"His own belief in himself and trust is one of the things that stand out for me" - CSK bowling coach Eric Simons heaps praise on Matheesha Pathirana

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) bowling coach Eric Simons recently spoke about his journey with 20-year-old Matheesha Pathirana and his impressions of the young Sri Lankan pacer.

Pathirana has been CSK's go-to death bowler in the IPL thus far, thanks to his unique action and the ability to bowl yorkers at will. He has picked up 10 wickets in just seven matches at an average of 20.80 and an economy rate of 7.61 runs per over.

Speaking to the IPL social media handle, Simmons shared his experience of coaching Matheesha Pathirana, saying:

"I firmly believe the best coach of any cricketer is the person himself. I often say the less I speak, the better I coach. I've challenged him to be searching for accuracy, give him a target, run up and hit that thing."

"Don't try to think how to do it, just feel it and in doing that, he is finding things about his action that I could never explain to him as a coach, not think it, feel it and that's been his journey and that's been certainly what we've been trying to do with him," he added.

Eric Simons was also impressed by the youngster's ability to handle pressure.

"The thing that's impressed me the most is his maturity, his calmness under pressure," he added. "To play at this level, to be successful at this level, you have to want it, you have to want the pressure.

"The single most impressive thing about him, as a young man, he hasn't played a lot of cricket, his own belief in himself and trust is one of the things that stand out for me."

Matheesha Pathirana was signed by the Chennai franchise as a replacement for the injured New Zealand pacer Adam Milne a year ago.

The 20-year-old debuted against the Gujarat Titans (GT) last season, dismissing Shubman Gill with his first delivery. The Sri Lankan-born pacer also picked up the wicket of GT skipper Hardik Pandya later in the innings to end with figures of 2/24.

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"To go for less than 16, less than four runs an over, is just phenomenal" - Eric Simons on Matheesha Pathirana's incredible performance against MI

Pathirana put in a match-winning performance against MI.

Chennai Super Kings bowling coach Eric Simons was highly impressed with Matheesha Pathirana's incredible bowling performance against the Mumbai Indians (MI) in Chennai on May 6.

Bowling predominantly at the death, Pathirana finished with sensational bowling figures of 3/15 in his four overs to help restrict the strong MI batting lineup to 139-8 in their 20 overs.

Speaking of Pathirana's performance against the five-time IPL champions, Simons said:

"To go and bowl in the last game against Mumbai, the overs that he did and then to go for less than 16, less than four runs an over, is just phenomenal."

The youngster was adjudged the Player of the Match for his outstanding spell as CSK beat MI comfortably in the 18th over by six wickets.

Often referred to as the next Lasith Malinga, Matheesha Pathirana is yet to play first-class cricket but was part of Sri Lanka's squad for the ICC U19 World Cup in 2020. He made his international debut in the Asia Cup against Afghanistan a year ago but bowled just the solitary over.

CSK are second in the points table with 13 points in 11 games and will take on the Delhi Capitals in Chennai on Wednesday, May 10.