Lasith Malinga Is Unhappy With MS Dhoni’s Comments On Matheesha Pathirana: Pathirana has proved to be a crucial cog in the success of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in IPL 2023. Bowling mostly in the second half of the innings, the Sri Lankan youngster with a slingy action akin to Malinga, Pathirana has snapped 15 wickets in 10 matches, most of those wickets have come in the death overs.
Because Pathirana has a slingy action and considering the workload of multiple formats, plus the T20 leagues, CSK captain MS Dhoni had suggested Pathirana should not play red-ball cricket.
Lasith Malinga Is Not Happy With MS Dhoni
This suggestion from Dhoni hasn’t gone down well with Sri Lankan legend Lasith Malinga, who, giving his own example, attested that Pathirana can remain fit while also playing Test cricket.
“MS Dhoni is saying he should just play ICC tournaments. I wonder if he’s just saying that for fun (laughs). It’s hard to do that when you’re playing for the national team. I think anyone who tells him not to play red-ball cricket is doing that because they think he will get injured. I played red-ball cricket first. No one said anything like that to me. I played red-ball cricket between 2004 to 2010, but I had a 16-year international career, and I played a lot of IPL, plus Big Bash and all the other leagues. In all that time I never left the field after injuring a hamstring, or a groin, or my back, or my calf. Maybe a lot of people will oppose me, but I don’t think we should just presume that he will get injured,” Maling said in reply to MS Dhoni’s comments on Pathirana.
Malinga’s career was also marred with injuries. Despite that, Malinga played 30 Tests between 2004 and 2010 before giving up Test cricket and putting all his focus in white-ball cricket.
He added: “You can get bone injuries, but that is down to the effort you put in every ball. But I would tell him: get your Test cap. Maybe you’ll play just one. Maybe you’ll play 10. Maybe you will play 100 – who knows? When he plays 15-20 Tests, he will develop not just his bowling fitness and his skill, but also figure out how to set batters up for dismissals, and how to put a spell together.”
