Will Matheesha Pathirana play for KKR in IPL 2026? Contrasting reports create confusion

Matheesha Pathirana was not retained by CSK, and hence was bought by KKR during the IPL 2026 auction.

Injuries, wait, and contrasting reports are abundance, a few days before the start of the IPL 2026. KKR have been hit hard by the injury of Harshit Rana, as it is, and now, there is confusion over the availability of Sri Lanka pacer Matheesha Pathirana. On Thursday, an ABP report claimed that the bowler might not be available for the season, since the NOC was not provided by the SLC.

In fact, the report also suggested that his tickets were booked, and cancelled too, due to the same. But a few hours later, a report in the New Indian Express clarified, that Pathirana was fit, ready to fly to India, and had been given the NOC.

Will Pathirana join KKR in time for IPL 2026?

The three-time champions are scheduled to commence their IPL 2026 campaign from March 29 onwards, where they will take on Mumbai Indians (MI) in their tournament opener. Pathirana is expected to spearhead a weakened KKR pace unit in the absence of Harshit Rana. The Sri Lankan fast-bowler, who was released by CSK before the IPL 2026 auction, was bagged for a whooping Rs 18 crore.

The unorthodox fast bowler from Sri Lanka had injured himself during the T20 World Cup 2026. KKR have already suffered multiple setbacks. First, they were forced to release Mustafizur Rahman due to a directive from the BCCI amid geopolitical tensions between India and Bangladesh.

Next, it was reported that Harshit Rana is set to miss majority of IPL 2026 as he has undergone a knee surgery. Blessing Muzarabani has been named Rahman’s replacement though.

KKR full squad for IPL 2026

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