Lasith Malinga Slams MS Dhoni For His Comments on Matheesha Pathirana

image-lhxml7m4Matheesha Pathirana and MS Dhoni (Source: BCCI/IPL)

Turning out to be a death bowling specialist for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Matheesha Pathirana has turned heads in the competition with his great accuracy and precision. The pace bowler bearing an unorthodox action similar to that of Sri Lankan legend Lasith Malinga has started to perform well for his side under the guidance of skipper MS Dhoni.

Also, a few days back, MS advised the 20-year-old on air regarding his future that someone like him should not even get close to red-ball cricket. Dhoni's comments were in context to the fact that he could be facing a lot of injury concerns in the near future if he spends too much time in whites. Additionally, he said that Sri Lanka should only use him for T20 and ODI World Cup alongside featuring on a regular basis in the T20I setup.

However, Malinga who is currently the fast bowling coach of Rajasthan Royals (RR) has expressed his disappointment over Dhoni's comments by saying that no one should presume that he will get injured if they haven't tried it.

"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,"

Further, he explained that the more Pathirana plays in Red-ball cricket, the better he will get considering the right-armer would only help himself by increasing his fitness alongside skill.

"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."

Pathirana has bagged 15 wickets in the season so far in 10 matches and will be looking to add to his tally when he takes the field against Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 1 on Tuesday.