Matheesha Pathirana’s Absence from KKR vs SRH Match in IPL 2026 Explained

Kolkata:

Kolkata Knight Riders pacer Matheesha Pathirana is yet to join the squad for IPL 2026. The Sri Lanka international suffered a hamstring injury during the T20 World Cup and has been out of action since. In a very recent development, Pathirana is back training but the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) noted that he isn’t at the right fitness level and, for the same reason, has been denied NOC for IPL 2026.

The three-time champions, however, are confident that Pathirana will get the clearance in the second week of April. He was bought for INR 18 crore and in his absence, KKR look slightly weaker on paper. In his absence, Blessing Muzarabani featured in the playing XI, but the Zimbabwe international doesn’t bring the same skillset as KKR desperately need someone who can deliver in the death overs. 

Against Sunrisers Hyderabad, they will be tested heavily as the visitors are known for their power-hitting. A high-scoring game is expected at the Eden Gardens as KKR’s bowling unit will be tested properly. 

KKR win toss, elect to bowl

Kolkata have won the toss and elected to bowl first. Capitan Ajinkya Rahane noted that there’s plenty of room for improvement after a defeat to Mumbai Indians in the previous match, citing that the bowling department needs to improve.

“There is always room for improvement but there were a lot of positives from the last game – batting unit wise we batted really well. As I said in the post-match presentation, bowling wise there was a bit of inexperience but they will do really well,” Rahane said after the toss. 

Meanwhile, in the match against SRH, Rahane also became the 11th cricketer to play 200 matches in the IPL.

Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (wk/c), Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Salil Arora, Harsh Dubey, Shivang Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, David Payne

Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Ajinkya Rahane (c), Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi, Blessing Muzarabani

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