Matheesha Pathirana in CSK documentary

Matheesha Pathirana has called Mahendra Singh Dhoni his ‘cricketing father’ in a new documentary for the Chennai Super Kings franchise, which was released recently. The Sri Lankan cricketer and his parents gushed about the Dhoni effect on his rise in the documentary.
Pathirana has been with CSK since he was signed as Adam Milne’s replacement during IPL 2022. He was also one of the players the storied franchise opted to retain ahead of the IPl 2025 auctions.
“Dhoni is like my father, because of the support and the mentorship and the guidance he is giving me when I’m in CSK,” Pathirana said. “It’s very similar to what my father did in my home. That’s why I consider Dhoni my cricketing father.”
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“No words for MS Dhoni. He is the real God. How Matheesha respects his father. Like that, he respects Dhoni,” said Matheesha’s mother Shalika in the video.
“In Sri Lanka, you are my father, in India it is MS Dhoni,” added his father Anura.
After being fast-tracked into the CSK team, the pacer has gone on to represent the Sri Lankan national team as well. In 2023, Pathirana had his breakthrough IPL season, ending up with 19 wickets from 12 games. The next season, he took 13 wickets from six games.
In the video, Pathirana also spoke of his reaction when he first met Dhoni. He said that Dhoni turned to him and asked, “Hi, Mali. How are you?”Story continues below this ad
‘Mali’ was a play on Pathirana’s cricketing nickname ‘Ba Malinga’ (because the Lankan pacer has modelled his bowling action on Sri Lankan pacer legend Lasith Malinga).
“It [Mali] is very familiar to me, because when we are in Sri Lanka, Mali means the younger brother,” Pathirana said. “So that kind of legend calls me ‘Mali’, wow, this is so good. That’s so good.”