Sri Lanka fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana lasted just eight deliveries on his long-awaited Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) debut before walking off with hamstring discomfort during the side’s IPL 2026 match against Gujarat Titans in Kolkata on Saturday.
Introduced as an Impact Player during KKR’s bowling innings, Pathirana sent down one over for seven runs. Into his second over he showed visible signs of hamstring trouble and left the field after a conversation with captain Ajinkya Rahane. He had been on the field for less than thirty minutes.
The 23-year-old slinger was bought by KKR for INR 18 crore (around USD 1.875 million) at the auction, becoming the most expensive Sri Lankan player ever sold in the tournament. His arrival was delayed by a string of fitness setbacks — he left Sri Lanka’s T20 World Cup game against Australia mid-spell and missed the rest of that tournament with a calf injury, then sat out the early months of the IPL season.
Sri Lanka Cricket cleared him only after fresh fitness tests and issued his No Objection Certificate four games into KKR’s campaign. He had then spoken publicly about regaining confidence and earning his place back in the national side. He remained on the bench through the team’s twelfth game before Saturday’s appearance.
KKR have not yet confirmed the extent of the injury or whether Pathirana will be available for the franchise’s remaining fixtures. The setback compounds a difficult IPL season for the side, whose bowling unit has been thinned by injuries to Akash Deep and Harshit Rana and the mid-tournament withdrawal of Mustafizur Rahman.
Sources: The Island (citing Cricinfo), Daily Mirror.
