"He is not someone you try to coach" - Dwayne Bravo calls CSK prodigy Matheesha Pathirana 'Baby GOAT'

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) bowling coach Dwayne Bravo has massive praise for Sri Lankan sensation Matheesha Pathirana for what the latter has been able to achieve, not just in IPL 2024 so far but in his brief career for Chennai altogether.

Pathirana has 30 wickets in 18 matches, nine of which have come in four games this season. With a slinging action similar to that of former Sri Lankan legendary pacer Lasith Malinga, Bravo calls Pathirana the Baby GOAT (Greatest of All Time).

Speaking in a video posted by IPL, here's what Dwayne Bravo had to say about his experience of coaching CSK pacers like Matheesha Pathirana:

"Pathirana is very special. I call him Baby Malinga. I also call him Baby GOAT. He is not someone you try to coach because he has a natural ability and skill."

Bravo also lauded the impact that the likes of Mustafizur Rahman and Tushar Deshpande have had on the Men in Yellow. He reiterated the importance of not over-coaching the players and laid emphasis on providing a few tweaks in terms of knowledge and skills.

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Dwayne Bravo on importance of yorkers

Dwayne Bravo believes one of the main reasons why T20 cricket is shifting further into the batters' favor is because of the bowlers' inability to nail their yorkers consistently. He named great bowlers like Malinga and Jasprit Bumrah, and shed light on their ability to deliver yorkers almost at will.

On this, he stated:

"You cannot last long without a yorker. If you look at players, who have had most of the success in T20 cricket, Lasith Malinga, Bumrah or Pathirana, myself when I played, we had a similar plan, try to bowl as many yorkers as possible, with our variations. So what I tried to implement in the coaching sessions is each and every bowler has to bowl 12-14 yorkers in a session."

The Chennai Super Kings will take on the Lucknow Super Giants at their den in Chepauk on Tuesday and will look to get back to winning ways after the defeat at the hands of the same opposition in their previous fixture.