Published: Mar 28, 2025, 06:06 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 28, 2025, 06:08 PM (IST)
Sri Lankan pacer Matheesha Pathirana to miss IPL 2025 clash against RCB. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) head coach Stephen Fleming said on pre- match press conference on Thursday that Pathirana is still recovering from injury and in unlikely to participate in the match against RCB.
Pathirana also missed the season opener versus Mumbai Indians (MI). “He is recovering,” said Fleming. He was retained by CSK for 13 crores as everyone was impressed by his bowling during 2024 IPL season.
Talking about his performance in IPL, the right-arm seamer joined the franchise in 2022. Pathirana’s breakout season was in 2023 as he took 19 wickets and helped CSK win their fifth title. In 2024, he took 13 wickets. Thus, his absence will hurt CSK.
As the Chennai Super Kings prepare to face off against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Friday, head coach Stephen Fleming emphasized the evenly matched nature of this year’s competition as both teams have undergone significant changes since the last season of the IPL
“Things change quite quickly. The RCB from last year, the CSK from last year are quite different. We don’t look at all into past performances. Certainly looking at their team, Kohli is a big part of it, but they’ve got other strengths as well. The competition is really even this year,” Fleming stated
Fleming admitted that adaptability will play a key role as the teams have to play matches at different pitches throughout the tournament
“It’s difficult, we don’t have much influence on what comes up. Each pitch has a different characteristic so we’ll work really hard to work out what’ll work and what we have and try to get us pretty well equipped for all conditions, because that’s been the key here,” he explained
