Big win for Chennai over Mumbai thanks to "Baby Malinga."

In a match between IPL heavyweights on Saturday, Matheesha Pathirana of Sri Lanka led an aggressive pace attack that helped Chennai Super Kings destroy Mumbai Indians by six wickets.

 

Pathirana, known as "Baby Malinga" because of the way he throws the ball, which is reminiscent of the late Sri Lankan pace ace Lasith Malinga, returned figures of 3-15 to hold five-time champion Mumbai to 139-8 in Chennai.

The four-time IPL champions Chennai, led by M.S. Dhoni, sailed home with 14 balls remaining thanks to the 44 points scored by New Zealand's opener Devon Conway.

"People who don't have any clean action, batsmen have a difficult time picking it," Dhoni said in praise of Pathirana. But what makes him unique is his steadiness and pace.

Dhoni advised the young player to focus on playing "only ICC tournaments with ODIs" and to avoid playing Test cricket.

Conway, a left-handed batsman, moved up to second place in the batting order, 458 runs behind Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Faf du Plessis (466), thanks to a solid opening stand of 46 with Ruturaj Gaikwad.

In what is anticipated to be his final IPL season as a player, fans flocked to the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai to cheer the superstar cricketer, Dhoni, 41, as he scored the winning run.

In the 10-team table, Shivam Dube scored an unbeaten 26 off 18 balls to help Chennai move up to second place behind Gujarat Titans, who currently hold the top spot.

Cameron Green, who was out for six after opening the batting, and captain Rohit Sharma, who was dismissed for a second consecutive duck after coming in at number three, were both crucial wickets taken by Chennai's bowlers after they rattled the Mumbai top-order.

Deepak Chahar and Tushar Deshpande, the opening pace pair, reduced Mumbai to 3-14 in just three overs before Nehal Wadhera (64), Suryakumar Yadav (26), and their 55-run stand.

To put the brakes on the Mumbai batting, left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja returned Suryakumar, and 20-year-old Pathirana, who has only played one T20 match for Sri Lanka, bowled Wadhera with a yorker, his main weapon.

Pathirana declared, "I'm a die-hard fan of Cristiano Ronaldo and have modelled my celebration after him," while performing a distinctive celebration with his hands crossed in front of his chest and eyes closed.

The dangerous Tim David was taken out by Deshpande for two wickets, and Pathirana took out South African batsman Tristan Stubbs for twenty.