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Chennai Super Kings (CSK) pacer Matheesha Pathirana has returned to IPL 2024 action against the Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday after recovering from a niggle that kept him out of the last two games.
The Sri Lankan didn't start CSK's campaign opener against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) because he was at home recovering from a hamstring injury. He re-joined the CSK squad soon after, though, and played against the Gujarat Titans and Delhi Capitals, bowling spells of 1/29 and 3/31.
However, at the toss for the following match against the SunRisers Hyderabad, CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad said the pacer had a "niggle". On Saturday, the team's head coach Stephen Fleming said although the injury wasn't "as bad" as they expected, they didn't want to rush him back into the playing 11.
"It (Pathirana's niggle) was not as bad as what we had thought, so we are very hopeful that if not tomorrow, then very close. We know the importance of him in games like this, but we will make sure he is 100 per cent in this form," Fleming told reporters ahead of the game.
CSK won against GT but lost to DC despite Pathirana's three-wicket haul. But the five-time champions made a resounding comeback in his absence against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at home to register their third win of the season.
Who has Matheesha Pathirana replaced in CSK's 11?
Matheesha Pathirana replaced his compatriot Maheesh Theekshana in CSK's line-up. As CSK lost the toss and were put into bat, he wasn't included in the 11 but skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad confirmed he was part of the team, suggesting he'd be used as the Impact Sub in the second innings.
CSK's Playing 11: Rachin Ravindra, Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Daryl Mitchell, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Sameer Rizvi, MS Dhoni(w), Shardul Thakur, Tushar Deshpande and Mustafizur Rahman
CSK's bench: Matheesha Pathirana, Nishant Sindhu, Mitchell Santner, Moeen Ali, Shaik Rasheed
Catch all the live action here.
