Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) begin their campaign on Sunday against Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2026 without their star pacer Matheesha Pathirana, who is awaiting clearance from Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC).
KKR’s assistant coach Shane Watson said that the franchise is doing everything to him over as soon as possible. Pathirana was signed by KKR for Rs 18 crore at the auction last year and is recovering from a calf injury which he sustained during the T20 World Cup 2026.
“With Pathirana, obviously it’s a waiting game at the moment. We are being guided by Sri
Lanka Cricket and we are just doing everything we can to get him over here as soon as possible. We have got the exact same interests as Sri Lankan cricket 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. The last thing that we want is him playing the first game trying to come back too early and breaking as well. He was one of our number one priorities in the auction.
“We know when he is at his best, the incredible skill that he has got and the difference that he provides for the batters. We have got our fingers crossed… hopefully sooner rather than later,” Watson said in the pre-match press conference.
The former Australian allrounder lauded the IPL and how it has benefited Indian cricket by churning out amazing cricketers.
“It’s amazing for Indian cricket to see the amount of amazing cricketers that are coming through. But it’s not great for the rest of the world to see, knowing India can put out, just say T20 cricket alone, a second, third… eleventh team and still challenge the best T20 teams in the world and probably win,” said Watson.
KKR are also looking at Angkrish Raghuvanshi as a wicketkeeping option, though KKR have the New Zealand duo of Tim Seifert and Finn Allen as specialist wicketkeepers.
“Raghuvanshi has been working tirelessly on his wicketkeeping for the last five or six months. We’ve got Dishant Yagnik, who’s as good a fielding and wicket-keeping coach there is in the world, not just in India. He has been working tirelessly with Angkrish.
“He’s certainly skilled, and we have seen him in the practice matches as well. His skill is certainly up to speed in dealing with what the IPL bowlers and KKR bowlers are going to throw at him. It means that we’ve got a number of options that we can go to, depending on the makeup of our team,” Watson said.
