After a lot of ado, Sri Lankan pacer Matheesha Pathirana is finally set to join the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on April 6, as per a report in RevSportz. There was a lot of back and forth on his availability. He was expected to join in earlier. There were also reports that his tickets were confirmed but cancelled later.
Matheesha Pathirana almost fully-fit
Then Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) took the matter into their own hands and put a condition of clearing a fitness test to grant him a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. The Malinga-like pacer was bagged for a massive INR 18 crore by KKR at the auction, and his absence would have caused a lot of problems for the team.
Hasaranga to miss out
It is also made to understand that he is recovering well from a calf injury at the NCA in Sri Lanka and will undergo his fitness test next week. He had sustained the injury during the T20 World Cup 2026. Previously, the SLC had granted a similar NOC to Dushmantha Chameera, Pathum Nissanka, and Kamindu Mendis, who cleared their fitness tests.
KKR has been in a bit of a soup for some time now. They lost Harshit Rana and Akash Deep for the entire season, and Blessing Muzarabani was named as a replacement. There are even clouds over it if Cameron Green bowls. On the other hand, Wanindu Hasaranga, who was bagged by LSG, is most likely ruled out of the IPL 2026.
KKR squad for IPL 2026
Batters: Ajinkya Rahane (C), Finn Allen (WK), Tim Seifert (WK), Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Manish Pandey, Rahul Tripathi, Tejasvi Dahiya (WK)
All-Rounders: Cameron Green, Sunil Narine, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Rovman Powell, Sarthak Ranjan, Daksh Kamra, Rachin Ravindra.
Bowlers: Matheesha Pathirana, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi, Blessing Muzarabani (Replacement), Varun Chakravarthy, Prashant Solanki
Cricket
IPL 2026: Matheesha Pathirana to join KKR soon, Wanindu Hasaranga likely to miss entire season
