Why did Matheesha Pathirana miss MI vs KKR clash in IPL 2026?

Matheesha Pathirana was bought by KKR for INR 18 crore in IPL 2026 mini-auction.

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are clashing with Mumbai Indians (MI) in their opening match of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. The encounter got underway on Sunday, March 29, at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

MI won the toss and opted to bowl first in the encounter. At the toss, Ajinkya Rahane revealed KKR’s playing XI and to many’s surprise, pacer Matheesha Pathirana was not part of the encounter.

The Sri Lankan pacer was picked by the franchise in the IPL 2026 mini-auction for INR 18 crore. He was one of the costliest overseas players in the auction and was expected to be part of XI from the first game itself.

Notably, KKR’s camp have been hit by lot of injuries as the franchise have already lost a few pacers. Harshit Rana and Akash Deep have been ruled out due to injuries. Mustafizur Rahman was released from the squad due to the BCCI’s instructions.

Why did Matheesha Pathirana miss MI vs KKR clash of IPL 2026?

Notably, Pathirana is yet to join the KKR squad in IPL 2026. The right-arm pacer is recovering from a calf strain that he sustained during T20 World Cup 2026.

Moreover, he is yet to acquire a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC). The Governing Body has ordered Sri Lankan players to clear a fitness test to participate in franchise T20 leagues like IPL and PSL.

Earlier, KKR assistant coach Shane Watson revealed that Pathirana is going to miss the start of the tournament.

“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 had 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 had added.

MI vs KKR: Playing 11’s of both teams

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton(w), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya(c), Sherfane Rutherford, Naman Dhir, Shardul Thakur, Mayank Markande, AM Ghazanfar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi(w), Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, Blessing Muzarabani.

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