Matheesha Pathirana ruled out? Sri Lanka pacer bids 'hard goodbye ...

CSK fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana dropped a note on Instagram where he bid a ‘hard goodbye’ to the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise. Although the post indicates that the speedster might have been ruled out of the tournament, the Super Kings are yet to make an official announcement. Pathirana has had his issues with hamstring over the last couple of months and recently returned to Sri Lanka for his recovery.

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Pathirana sustained the injury during the T20I series against Afghanistan before the start of the IPL. He made his return, but the injury has kept on haunting him. On Sunday, CSK released an official statement, updating on Pathirana’s recovery from the injury. In his goodbye post, Pathirana also wished for the Super Kings to lift the IPL trophy for the sixth time.

Uploading a few pictures with the CSK family, Pathirana wrote, “A hard goodbye with my only wish to see the 2024 IPL champion trophy in CSK’s room soon! Grateful to the CSK team for all the blessings and love from Chennai.”

The Super Kings have to be mindful of their fast bowling resources if they are to qualify for the playoffs. Bangladesh speedster Mustafizur Rahman is not available for them any more after he returned to his home country to play in the T20I series against Zimbabwe. With Pathirana also unavailable, it goes without saying that their bowling has become a tad depleted.

CSK are currently placed third in the table with 12 points and a net run rate of +0.700 thanks to wins in 6 out of 11 games. They will be high on confidence after beating PBKS by 28 runs at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala. Their next match is against Shubman Gill’s GT on Friday, May 10 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.