Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) could breathe a sigh of relief as Matheesha Pathirana could join the side soon in Indian Premier League (IPL 2026). The Sri Lankan fast bowler was forced to miss the first few games of the league to an injury that he is yet to recover from. KKR have lost both games that they have played so far and will be hoping to open their account on Monday when they take on PBKS at the Eden Gardens, although they will be without the services of Pathirana in the game.
When will Pathirana join KKR in IPL 2026?
As per Cricbuzz, KKR are optimistic on Pathirana joining the team soon and that he is making progress in his recovery from injury. He was seen bowling in the nets at the R Premadasa Stadium the other day, although not in full tilt, as per the report. Pathirana, who was a part of CSK until IPL 2025, was bought by KKR for a whooping Rs 18 crore in the mini-auction by the three-time champions.
The Sri Lankan fast bowler injured himself during the Sri Lanka vs Australia match in the T20 World Cup 2026. Bowling his first over of the game, Pathirana went down to the ground after delivering the fourth ball to Australia captain and opener Mitchell Marsh.
Addressing a pre-match presser ahead of KKR’s game against MI, assistant coach Shane Watson had said, “With Pathirana, obviously, it’s a waiting game at the moment. And we’re being guided by the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC). And we are just doing everything we can to get him over here as soon as possible. Because of the calibre of support, the support staff, and the medical staff that we’ve got here at KKR. We’ve got the same interests as SLC as well. We want Pathirana to be here. We want him to be fit. We certainly would never push him any earlier than he needs to.”
KKR IPL 2026 squad
Batters: Ajinkya Rahane (Captain), Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Manish Pandey, Cameron Green, Finn Allen, Tejasvi Singh, Rahul Tripathi, Tim Seifert, Rovman Powell
All-rounders: Anukul Roy, Sarthak Ranjan, Daksh Kamra, Rachin Ravindra, Ramandeep Singh
Bowlers: Blessing Muzarabani, Vaibhav Arora, Matheesha Pathirana, Kartik Tyagi, Prashant Solanki, Saurabh Dubey, Navdeep Saini, Umran Malik, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy
