Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have started their preparations for the 14th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The likes of captain MS Dhoni, his deputy Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu among others have reached Chennai and begun their training for IPL 2021 that gets underway from April 9.
For the first time in the tournament’s history, CSK failed to reach the playoffs in UAE last year. The Super Kings will be hoping to bounce back in the upcoming season, having bolstered their squad in the IPL Players’ Auction, which took place in Chennai last month.
CSK roped in Moeen Ali, Krishnappa Gowtham and Cheteshwar Pujara among others to boost their squad and will be looking to make a good start in the tournament.
Apart from adding quality all-rounders at the auction, CSK have also invited two uncapped Sri Lankan bowlers to participate in the ongoing preparation camp.
20-year-old Mahesh Theekshana and 18-year-old Matheesha Pathirana have been called up by CSK, as per a report in Sri Lankan news outlet NewsWire.
The two pacers have been included as reserve players and will not be part of the main squad.
The report further added that both the players have requested for No Objection Certificates from Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) to take part in the training session.
Pathirana has represented Sri Lanka in the previous ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup. Recently, he was a part of the T10 League in Abu Dhabi and represented the Bangla Tigers. His bowling action is quite similar to that of Sri Lankan veteran Lasith Malinga.
He's not playing today but earlier this week, we took a closer look at Matheesha 'New Malinga' Anushal in training.
Anushal didn't disappoint, he bowled some serious 🚀 🚀 #U19CWC | #FutureStars pic.twitter.com/MUau2aPyiy
— ICC Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) February 3, 2020
On the other hand, Theekshana is a right-arm off-break bowler. He was a part of Jaffna Stallions in the 2020 Lanka Premier League (LPL).
