IPL 2026 Matheesha Pathirana: Before the 19th season of the Indian Premier League, the troubles of Kolkata Knight Riders are not ending. First, its fast bowler Harshit Rana got injured and now the news is that one of its match-winning bowlers was not allowed to play IPL. We are talking about Mathisa Pathirana who has not received the No Objection Certificate to play IPL. Sri Lanka Cricket Board has not allowed him to participate in IPL and the reason for this is his injury.
Difficult for Mathisa Pathirana to play in IPL
Sri Lankan fast bowler Mathisa Pathirana Was injured during T20 World Cup 2026. During the match against Australia, the calf muscle of his left leg was stretched. While bowling, he felt pain during follow through and fell on the ground. Due to this injury he was ruled out of the T20 World Cup. Pathirana is trying to recover from his injury and he gave a fitness test to the Sri Lanka Board in which he failed, which is why he has not got approval to play in the IPL.
Pathirana’s salary is 18 crores
Mathisa Pathirana has been bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for a huge price of Rs 18 crore. There was a fierce battle between Kolkata Knight Riders and Lucknow Supergiants to buy Pathirana. But in the end KKR won the auction. But KKR team seems stuck regarding Pathirana. After Pathirana’s injury, KKR’s pace bowling unit looks very weak. After the injuries of Rana and Pathirana, KKR now has bowlers who either do not have much experience in T20 cricket and the performance of some is very poor in this format. The team has bowlers like Akash Deep, Karthik Tyagi, Umran Malik. Although the team has added Blessing Muzarabani to the team, but this player has no experience of playing in IPL.
Pathirana’s IPL career
Pathirana has been playing in IPL since 2022 and has played 32 matches so far. This player has taken 47 wickets. The economy rate of Pathirana is 8.6. Pathirana is known for bowling in the death overs, he can bowl excellent yorkers. For Chennai, he used to bowl only in the death overs, yet his economy rate is excellent. This is the reason why KKR had bet on him.