Why is Matheesha Pathirana not playing today’s GT vs CSK IPL 2024 match?

The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will be without one of their key wicket-takers, Matheesha Pathirana, for tonight's IPL 2024 match against the Gujarat Titans (GT). It is a rematch of last season's summit clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Both teams have a new captain this time, with Ruturaj Gaikwad leading the Super Kings, while Shubman Gill is at the helm for the Titans. CSK are in the fourth position in the points table at the moment with 12 points from 11 games. GT are languishing at the bottom of the points table with eight points from 11 games.

It is an important game for both teams as the league stage is nearing its end. CSK have several injury concerns as their lead pacers, Deepak Chahar and Matheesha Pathirana, are on the sidelines. Mustafizur Rahman has returned to Bangladesh to fulfill his international commitments.

Pathirana has returned to Sri Lanka to nurse his injury and attain full fitness before the 2024 T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the USA. The right-arm pacer's absence will hurt the CSK side most as he has been a star performer for them in the death overs, picking up 13 wickets from six games.

Matheesha Pathirana will now miss the rest of IPL 2024 due to a hamstring injury.

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CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad wins the toss and opts to bowl first in IPL 2024 clash vs GT in IPL 2024

After a long time, Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad finally won the toss tonight and went on to invite the opposition team to bat first. He said:

"We will bowl first. Looks a good wicket, but I feel it is slightly on the stickier side. Pretty much similar to Chennai in the last two games. There was one red-soil wicket (in Chennai) but this is pretty much similar. (On the mood in the camp) Pretty much relaxed. IPL is a tournament where you tend to lose 4-5-6 games, sometimes seven.

"You have to back everyone in the group and make sure they are in a good headspace. (On the recovery from injuries) Definitely happy with how things have gone on till now. We have Rachin coming in for Gleeson."

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Chennai Super Kings playing XI: Rachin Ravindra, Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Daryl Mitchell, Shivam Dube, Moeen Ali, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (wk), Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Tushar Deshpande, and Simarjeet Singh.

Impact subs: Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Aravelly Avanish Rao, Sameer Rizvi, and Mukesh Choudhary.

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Gujarat Titans playing XI: Matthew Wade (wk), Shubman Gill (c), Sai Sudharsan, David Miller, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Mohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav, and Kartik Tyagi.

Impact subs: Abhinav Manohar, Belur Ravi Sharath, Darshan Nalkande, Jayant Yadav, and Sandeep Warrier.