Chennai Super Kings have suffered a significant blow with their death-bowling specialist Matheesha Pathirana returning to Sri Lanka to recover from a hamstring injury that has ruled him out of IPL 2024.
After missing the home fixture against Punjab Kings in Chennai, Pathirana was also ruled out of the reverse fixture in Dharamsala on Sunday. His absence further depletes CSK, who were already without Deepak Chahar, their powerplay specialist. It's understood Chahar didn't travel to Dharamsala and is waiting for his scan reports in Chennai after bowling just two balls against PBKS on Wednesday.
Pathirana played only six games for CSK in IPL 2024, taking 13 wickets with an economy rate of 7.68. He had missed the IPL 2024 season-opener against Royal Challengers Bangalore with a hamstring injury he had sustained while playing for Sri Lanka against Bangladesh in Sylhet in March. He is the second Sri Lanka fast bowler on the sidelines with left-armer Dilshan Madushanka, who was due to make his IPL debut for Mumbai Indians, ruled out of the entire IPL season.
Sri Lanka's premier legspinner Wanindu Hasaranga, who was due to play for Sunrisers Hyderabad, had also pulled out of the entire IPL 2024 because of chronic heel pain in his left foot. Sri Lanka are yet to unveil their provisional squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup in the USA and the West Indies.
With Pathirana leaving the IPL with injury, England's Richard Gleeson, 36, is the only overseas fast bowler in the CSK squad. Mustafizur Rahman's stint with the franchise ended on May 1 and the left-arm seamer has now linked up with Bangladesh for their ongoing home T20I series against Zimbabwe.
Tushar Deshpande, who sat out of the match against PBKS at Chepauk with flu, recovered to make CSK's XI in the reverse fixture in Dharamsala. Delhi's Simarjeet Singh and the Maharashtra pair of Mukesh Choudhary and Prashant Solanki were part of the Impact Player bench for that game.