Kolkata Knight Riders' second-most expensive player in the current side, Sri Lanka's Matheesha Pathirana, is yet to make his debut in purple and gold. When KKR were on a losing streak, there were speculations about when will Pathirana join the squad after clearing fitness test made mandatory by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC). When he joined, he was building up his workload. Now, that he is 'fit and ready to go', he hasn't find a place in the starting eleven or as an impact player. Ahead of the match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), KKR assistant coach Shane Watson revealed why Pathirana has been spending time on the sidelines.
“Pathirana continues to push his case. He’s fit and ready to go. But, with the way our team’s been set up, it’s been hard for him to get into the playing 11 or 12. To be able to know that a player of that calibre is ready to make his mark gives our group a lot of confidence,” Watson said in the pre-match press conference.
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Pathirana was snapped up by KKR at the mini-auction for Rs 18 crore. He wasn’t unavailable for KKR’s initial games as he was recovering from an injury sustained during ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026.
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How can KKR way for Pathirana in playing XI?
In the current side, Pathirana has not been able to find a place as skipper Ajinkya Rahane and the team management have banked on the services of Finn Allen, Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine as their four overseas players.
However, there is a scenario where KKR may be forced to make a bold call. As Varun Chakaravarthy’s participation in the RCB game is uncertain due to leg injury, they can trust their Indian batters plus Green to deliver and bench Powell. The Caribbean batter can be replaced with either Ramandeep Singh, Tejasvi Dahiya or Rahul Tripathi. By freeing up an overseas slot, Pathirana can walk in. He can also bolster their death bowling with pin-point yorkers.
Pathirana’s record vs RCB
Pathirana has a good record against RCB, taking seven wickets at an average of 16.28. The last time he played against RCB, he claimed three wickets for 36 runs. His calps were Jacob Bethell, Devdutt Padikkal and skipper Rajat Patidar.