Nehal Wadhera, who brought up his maiden IPL fifty to take Mumbai Indians (MI) to a respectable total after a wobbly start against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in an IPL 2023 match, has said that the next time he goes head-to-head with Matheesha Pathirana, he would have better plans to score runs against the Sri Lankan pacer.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Pathirana was on fire in his spell, giving away just 15 runs in his four overs, not conceding a single boundary while picking three wickets and denied Mumbai the finishing kick they needed after losing their top three batters in power-play.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
After a dismal start, Wadhera along with Suryakumar Yadav steadied the Mumbai innings, stitching a 55-run partnership. The former, however, fell in the 11th over, leaving the mantle fair and square on Wadhera.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The 22-year-old then established a 50-run stand with Tristan Stubbs to take the total to 139\/8, which CSK chased down comfortably in 17.4 overs to climb to the second place in the points table.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Pathirana dismissed Wadhera for 64 in the 18th over with a fiery 145kph yorker which kept low to go past the attempted flick and hit the base of the middle stump with great accuracy.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
On facing that slinging action from Pathirana, Wadhera said that it was the first time he was facing him and he would have a better plan the next time the two go head-to-head.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"This was the first time I was facing him. He is not the type of bowler we face every day. But next time, whenever he comes, I would have better plans for him so that I can score more runs against him," Wadhera said in the post-match press conference.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"It was my first game here in Chennai and also my first fifty in the IPL. I love batting under pressure. It was fun batting in Chennai but it was not an easy wicket to bat on," he added.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Speaking about the game, the young batter said MI were 15-20 runs short as they lost wickets early.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"We lost three early wickets early but it happens in cricket. Overall, we batted well today but I think we were about 15-20 runs short. I think if we had those runs the game might have been very different," the left-handed batter said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n