Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) assistant coach Shane Watson said that the three-time IPL champions are waiting for an update on pacer Matheesha Pathirana, who has been recovering from calf strain that he sustained during the 2026 T20 World Cup.
As a result of this, Matheesha Pathirana will miss KKR's first few matches and is yet to get clearance from Sri Lanka Cricket. Pathirana's injury is one of the several massive setbacks for KKR, who have been hit by injuries to key pacers.
Shane Watson gives update on Matheesha Pathirana
"With Pathirana, obviously, it's a waiting game at the moment. We're being guided by the Sri Lankan cricket board and we are just doing everything we can to get him over here as soon as possible.
"We certainly would never, ever push him any earlier than he needs to. Because the last thing that we want as KKR is him playing the first game, trying to come back too early and breaking again. So we just hope that sooner rather than later, he is able to come over here and we can really start the integration process," Shane Watson said at the pre-match press conference in Mumbai on Saturday.
The former Australia all-rounder, however, feels that this an opportunity for domestic cricketers to step up. He also hailed the depth of Indian talent in domestic cricket.
"The thing for me is that up until a period of time, I'd say maybe six or seven years, every time you played against an opposition team, there were normally one or two domestic players who were the weakest in the team, who, from a batting perspective, you could potentially expose.
"Or from a bowling perspective, you could try to suffocate that player and suffocate the team around them. That was for the first probably six or seven years of the IPL. That's not there anymore at all," explained the former New South Wales and Queensland cricketer.
KKR's injury concerns
Kolkata Knight Riders have lost Harshit Rana and Akash Deep due to injuries, and Navdeep Saini and Saurabh Dubey have replaced the two pacers respectively.
KKR had acquired Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman for ₹9.20 crore at the IPL 2026 auction, but they later released him amid political tensions between India and Bangladesh. KKR signed Zimbabwe's Blessing Muzarabani as a replacement for Mustafizur.
Kolkata Knight Riders, led by Ajinkya Rahane, will begin their IPL 2026 campaign against Mumbai Indians (MI) in an away game at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.
