Matheesha Pathirana in frame. (Credits: X.com)
IPL 2026: Kolkata Knight Riders’ fresh recruit in the auction, Matheesha Pathirana, has been deemed the biggest factor in their pace attack. However, a report suggesting that the franchise carries no clarity on his availability for the season has left the fans confused. Notably, Pathirana was bought at a record price of Rs 18 crore in the recent auction in 2025.
The uncertainty over Pathirana’s availability stems from the fact that he suffered a calf injury during the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2026. Sri Lanka had to rope in pacer Dilshan Madushanka for the entire tournament to replace him.
A report in Anandabazar.com, a KKR official has claimed that Pathirana is yet to receive the clearance from the Sri Lanka Cricket Board to join the franchise.
“Even though he has recovered for now, the Sri Lanka Cricket Board is not allowing Matheesha Pathirana to join the KKR camp,” an Ananda Bazar report read.
“There is no clarity when Pathirana would join the camp. His ticket is getting booked and cancelled on an everyday basis. We are in regular touch with him,” the report stated.
With less than 10 days left for the first match of the season, KKR are left with limited options for pace as Mustafizur Rahman and Harshit Rana remain unavailable for the season.
An IPL winner in 2023, the 22-year-old has taken 136 wickets in 101 T20 matches. With 47 wickets in 32 IPL matches, he adds significant pace and wicket-taking threat to the Kolkata Knight Riders’ attack. It is also worth noting that KKR has not sought a replacement for him till now.
The addition of Zimbabwean quick Blessing Muzurabani does provide some respite to the franchise. Muzarabani is the only Zimbabwean cricketer featuring in this year’s IPL.
KKR Squad: Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, Cameron Green, Tejasvi Singh, Finn Allen, Karthik Tyagi, Prashant Solanki, Tim Seifert, Rahul Tripathi,, Daksh Kamra, Rachin Ravindra, Akash Deep, Matheesha Pathirana, Sarthak Ranjan
Vishal Pushkar is a Chief Sub-Editor with NewsX and has been associated with the company since March 2026. He has been working as a journalist since 2021. His experience includes working with Zee Media, Amazon and Dainik Jagran. Vishal holds a BA (English Honours) degree from Shyam Lal College, University of Delhi and a Post-Graduate Diploma from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Delhi. Vishal has completed a beginner’s course in the German language as well.
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