Aakash Chopra has warned Chennai Super Kings that they could face difficulties if their Sri Lankan pacer Matheesha Pathirana doesn’t compete against them Punjab kings tonight.
The reigning champions will face the Punjab Kings for the first time in IPL 2024 at the picturesque HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala. CSK are winless in their last five matches against the 2014 runners-up and Matheesha Pathirana’s involvement and performance will be extremely crucial for victory in this game.
Aakash Chopra says Matheesha Pathirana makes CSK’s game more interesting
While speaking in his latest YouTube video, Aakash Chopra analyzed the Chennai vs Punjab match before the match and analyzed it before the match. In it, he mentioned the importance of Matheesha Pathirana in the CSK team and how crucial he is to the team’s brilliant performances.
Aakash Chopra claimed that the five-time champions would become weak in case of Matheesha Pathirana’s absence as they would be weak anyway without Mustafizur Rahman. Pathirana claimed 13 wickets from just 6 games at a very good economy rate of 7.68, averaging 13 with a best of 4/28.
His performance directly contributes to CSK’s good performances and Chopra claimed that he needs to be in the starting XI for Chennai’s sake. The 38-year-old also stated that he supports the return of Pathirana as he makes the game very exciting and interesting.
“If Pathirana is not available, this team will face big problems because they have too many bowling problems. So I hope Pathirana is available on behalf of Chennai and the game becomes enjoyable because he makes the game interesting.” – said Aakash Chopra in his latest YT video.
Why is Matheesha Pathirana at risk of missing CSK’s clash against Punjab?
Matheesha Pathirana and Maheesh Theekshana, Chennai’s only Sri Lankan players, had returned home to complete their visas for the ICC T20 World Cup. The Sri Lankan Cricket Board had asked the duo to return to the country to get their documents in order to apply for their US and West Indies visas.
Pathirana and Theekshana faced certain delays during the process and had also missed some of CSK’s training sessions in Chennai and Dharamshala. There was also a lot of tension in the Super Kings camp that Matheesha Pathirana might even miss the game against Punjab Kings for the same reason.
However, Matheesha Pathirana along with Maheesh Theekshana uploaded a story on Instagram confirming that he will be playing against Punjab. The 21-year-old captioned the picture with the following words: “Delhi to Dharamsala” and that pretty much confirms his participation tonight.
CSK absolutely has to win
To keep their dreams alive for the IPL 2024 play-offs and defend their IPL title, CSK currently needs to win.
Not only in the game against the Punjab Kings but also in the next league games, Chennai has no choice but to win every game to have a chance of a place in the top four. They currently have 10 points from 10 games.