Eric Simons: ‘Pathirana’s availability versus KKR subject to fitness’ in the 2024 Indian Premier League

Matheesha Pathirana’s availability for the Chennai Super Kings vs. Kolkata Knight Riders IPL 2024 match would depend on his fitness, according to CSK’s bowling specialist Eric Simons.

The hosts and the undefeated KKR will square off at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Chennai, with two victories and two defeats, is in fourth place. In contrast, KKR is now in second place in the IPL 2024 after three wins.

Pathirana was sidelined by a niggle during the last match. In the IPL 2024, he has already claimed four wickets, including a three-wicket haul against the Delhi Capitals.

It is dependent on the pacer’s health, according to Simons, so there won’t be a four-match danger for the young player, who is “coming along really well.”

“The team physio will need to give the go-ahead before the pacer can be available for the match against the visitors, KKR. We want to make cautious decisions with him since the tournament is going to go a long time. The physio will decide whether or not he plays in the next game,” Simons said, citing the CSK website.

“Riding to the end of four games only to play one shouldn’t be the norm. However, he is doing rather well. The IPL is about teams being ready for everything that might happen, he said.

After losing two straight games, Simons said that the squad had some conversations.

“In our most recent practice, we finished off a round of discussion. We thus spoke about it for a while. After watching a few films, we used the analysis to develop specific strategies. Thus, the short answer is that “yes, we have discussed it (the two losses and game plan) in our conversations,” he said.

IPL2024, Teams: CSK vs. KKR

Philip Salt (w), Sunil Narine, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Andre Russell, Shreyas Iyer (c), Rinku Singh, Venkatesh Iyer, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, Anukul Roy, Suyash Sharma, Manish Pandey, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Dushmantha Chameera, Srikar Bharat, Nitish Rana, Chetan Sakariya, Sherfane Rutherford, Sakib Hussain, Allah Ghazanfar; Kolkata Knight Riders squad.

The following players represent the Chennai Super Kings: Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana, Mukesh Choudhary, Shardul Thakur, Shaik Rasheed, Mitchell Santner, Sameer Rizvi, Devon Conway, Mustafizur Rahman, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Prashant Solanki, Simarjeet Singh, RS Hangargekar, Matheesha Pathirana, Nishant Sindhu, and Aravelly Avanish are the members of the Chennai Super Kings squad.