'It's a feel thing for him' - Simons says Pathirana is close to being back at his best

Matheesha Pathirana was one of Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) great success stories in 2023, when he picked up 19 wickets in 12 games with an economy rate of 8.01. A hamstring injury curtailed his participation in 2024. In IPL 2025, it's been nine wickets in eight games, a high economy rate of 10.40, and an average of 33.11.

Part of the reason for the lack of success, kind of mirroring the season CSK have had, is a changed action.

"I think it's been pretty well documented that there was a bit of [an] action change," Eric Simons, CSK bowling consultant, said after CSK lost to Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Wednesday to be eliminated from the playoffs race. "But I think he's pretty much back to where he was, just in terms of the height of his arm on a reasonably consistent basis."

Stephen Fleming, CSK's head coach, had seemed to suggest after CSK's previous match, against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), that the action change had become evident in South Africa during the SA20 earlier this year and that Sri Lanka Cricket were possibly responsible for it.

"Pathirana, in South Africa, he was way off. And yes, there was an issue with his action and that might be a question for Sri Lanka Cricket," Fleming had said in a press conference. "But we'll certainly look to try and get him back into form and get him back to what we think is his best action and his best opportunity at performing well.

"He's not far away. He's made a massive improvement in the two months since South Africa. And we just hope he keeps making that improvement part of his evolution; he is going to try things, and be asked to try things, and he'll settle at some point on an action that will give him the best results."

Pathirana's worst day in office was against Mumbai Indians (MI) on April 20 at the Wankhede Stadium, when he came on to bowl the 14th over, conceded 14 runs chiefly to Rohit Sharma, and then got tonked for three sixes by Suryakumar Yadav in his next over, finishing with 1.4-0-34-0.

"I'm not sure that he is less accurate. I think batsmen are playing him a lot better. We can certainly see a trend the way batsmen are playing against him. Particularly against Mumbai the other day, the technique they are using, they understand what his plans are [and] what he does," Simons said. "So the evolution might just be: what's next for him? Tactically, what he needs to do to keep evolving. Batsmen need to keep evolving. Bowlers need to keep evolving.

"Again, tonight, his channels were quite good. His lines were quite good, obviously he got his lengths… you prefer a fuller length. But the batsmen are treating him differently this year. So it's about the evolution of him, but if you check his accuracy, it's not a reflection of the runs that were scored [off him]."

He picked up the wickets of Nehal Wadhera and Shreyas Iyer against PBKS, but gave away 45 runs in his four overs.

"It's a feel thing for him," Simons said, "much more than the conversation around his technique. We feel he's pretty much back there."