Will Matheesha Pathirana play in MI vs KKR match 2 of IPL 2026?
Matheesha Pathirana was picked by KKR for INR 18 crore in IPL 2026 auction.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will start their journey in Indian Premier League 2026 with a clash against Mumbai Indians (MI). The MI vs KKR encounter will be played on Sunday, March 29, at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Matheesha Pathirana will be a key pacer for KKR in IPL 2026. The franchise bought him for INR 18 crore in the mini-auction. But, the three-time champions have been hit badly by injuries in their bowling unit.
Pacer Harshit Rana has been ruled out due to a knee injury. Akash Deep is also set to miss the tournament due to a back injury. Mustafizur Rahman was released from the squad on the BCCI’s instructions. In such a scenario, Pathirana will lead KKR’s pace attack in the tournament.
Will Matheesha Pathirana play in MI vs KKR match of IPL 2026?
Notably, Pathirana is recovering from a calf strain he sustained in T20 World Cup 2026. He is still awaiting a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) to participate in IPL 2026. Hence, he will miss the first few games in the tournament and will not be available for the MI vs KKR match.
In the pre-match press conference, KKR assistant coach Shane Watson revealed that Pathirana will miss the initial games in IPL 2026.
“With Pathirana, obviously, it’s a waiting game at the moment. We’re being guided by the Sri Lankan cricket board and we are just doing everything we can to get him over here as soon as possible,” he said.
“We certainly would never, ever push him any earlier than he needs to. Because the last thing that we want as KKR is him playing the first game, trying to come back too early and breaking again. So we just hope that sooner rather than later, he is able to come over here and we can really start the integration process,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ajinkya Rahane will captain Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2026. Navdeep Saini, Blessing Muzarabani, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, and Kartik Tyagi are other pacers in their squad.
Will Matheesha Pathirana play in MI vs KKR match of IPL 2026?
Pathirana will miss the initial games of KKR in the tournament. Hence, will not be available for the clash against MI.
When and where will MI vs KKR game take place?
The encounter will take place on March 29 (Sunday) at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
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Vikas Singh Derek is a core cricket-lover since childhood and has always followed the sport both in his personal and professional life. He started his school life by watching cricket at home with family. Later, he played cricket on the field at local clubs during college. After his Master's in Journalism from Mumbai, he followed his passion by covering cricket news across various digital media. Since 2015, he has been an aspiring sports journalist and cricket content writer with over 50K+ articles.