8 deliveries is all it took Matheesha Pathirana to get off the field once again, bringing his short stay out in the middle to a quicker end than expected. After bowling just 1.2 overs for Kolkata Knight Riders on his debut for the franchise and while playing his first game of the IPL 2026, the Sri Lankan pacer was forced to walk off the field, grimacing. Pathirana was bought by the three-time champions for a whooping Rs 18 crore in the IPL 2026 mini-auction after being released by CSK, the team which he was a part of for multiple seasons in the past.
Pathirana injured again
Pathirana conceded 7 runs in his very first over and looked like he was in no trouble then. But it was in his 2nd over that the troubles surfaced. Pathirana ran in to bowl the second delivery, but couldn’t complete it. He called out the team’s physio while clutching his calf in apparent pain. While he did bowl one more delivery, the Sri Lankan pacer was simply not in good shape, and decided to walk off the field after having a word with the umpire and the team physio.
Pathirana obtained a fitness clearance and a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from Sri Lanka Cricket earlier in April to take part in the IPL 2026. This came after he was sidelined due to a calf injury that he sustained at the T20 World Cup 2026 which took him months to recover. Despite joining the KKR squad in mid-April, he never featured in a game until the KKR vs GT encounter at the Eden Gardens on Saturday.
Pathirana made his IPL debut back in 2022 and featured for CSK in 4 seasons. Once touted as CSK’s go-to bowlers, he had a poor season in IPL 2025 which forced the five-time champions to release him. To date, the Sri Lankan pacer has 47 wickets from 33 IPL games, and boasts of an economy rate of above 8. KKR, who have already been riddled with multiple injuries this season, including that of Harshit Rana and Akash Deep, were counting on Pathirana to return at a crucial stage of the tournament where a playoffs berth is at stake and deliver. However, that has not been the case as the SL quick has once again suffered a potential calf injury which could bring the curtains on his IPL 2026 campaign. It won’t come of any surprise if KKR decide to release Pathirana ahead of the next season.
Talking about the KKR vs GT match, the hosts managed to post a mammoth 247-run total in 20 overs, thanks to a 93-run knock off 35 balls from Finn Allen and an unbeaten 82-run knock from Angkrish Raghuvanshi. GT dropped five catches during their bowling, which proved to be costly for the side. Siraj and Sai Kishore were the only wicket takers for the visitors as they conceded the most runs ever by the side in the history of the tournament.
