Mumbai, March 28 – Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are awaiting clearance from the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) for pacer Matheesha Pathirana to join the squad, with assistant coach Shane Watson saying the franchise was hopeful of him arriving 'sooner rather than later.'
Pathirana was signed for an astonishing ₹18 crore at the auction in Abu Dhabi last year, and has been recovering from a left calf injury that cut short his time in the 2026 Men's T20 World Cup. With SLC yet to give Pathirana clearance, it means he will miss KKR's opening game against Mumbai Indians, to be played at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.
"With Pathirana, obviously it's a waiting game at the moment. We are being guided by Sri Lanka Cricket, and we are doing everything we can to get him here as soon as possible. We also share the same interests as Sri Lankan cricket. We want Pathirana to be here, and we want him to be fit.
"We certainly would never push him any earlier than he needs to. The last thing we want is for him to play the first game and try to come back too early, which could lead to injuries. He was one of our top priorities in the auction.
"We know that when he is at his best, he possesses incredible skills and provides a significant advantage to the batters. We are hoping that this will happen sooner rather than later," Watson said in the pre-match press conference on Saturday.
He also spoke about the many quality T20 players that Indian cricket has produced through the IPL. "It's amazing to see the number of talented cricketers coming through Indian cricket. But it's not great for the rest of the world to see, knowing that India can field a second, third, or even eleventh-best T20 team and still challenge the best T20 teams in the world and probably win," added Watson.
He also hinted that KKR top-order batter Angkrish Raghuvanshi could be considered as a wicketkeeping option, as only the New Zealand duo of Tim Seifert and Finn Allen are specialist glovesmen.
"Yes, he is. Raghuvanshi has been working tirelessly on his wicketkeeping for the last five or six months. We also have Dishant Yagnik, who is one of the best fielding and wicket-keeping coaches in the world, not just in India. He has been working closely with Angkrish.
"He is certainly skilled, and we have seen him in practice matches as well. He is capable of handling the bowlers of IPL and KKR. This gives us several options depending on the team composition," he concluded.
Pathirana was signed for an astonishing ₹18 crore at the auction in Abu Dhabi last year, and has been recovering from a left calf injury that cut short his time in the 2026 Men's T20 World Cup. With SLC yet to give Pathirana clearance, it means he will miss KKR's opening game against Mumbai Indians, to be played at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.
"With Pathirana, obviously it's a waiting game at the moment. We are being guided by Sri Lanka Cricket, and we are doing everything we can to get him here as soon as possible. We also share the same interests as Sri Lankan cricket. We want Pathirana to be here, and we want him to be fit.
"We certainly would never push him any earlier than he needs to. The last thing we want is for him to play the first game and try to come back too early, which could lead to injuries. He was one of our top priorities in the auction.
"We know that when he is at his best, he possesses incredible skills and provides a significant advantage to the batters. We are hoping that this will happen sooner rather than later," Watson said in the pre-match press conference on Saturday.
He also spoke about the many quality T20 players that Indian cricket has produced through the IPL. "It's amazing to see the number of talented cricketers coming through Indian cricket. But it's not great for the rest of the world to see, knowing that India can field a second, third, or even eleventh-best T20 team and still challenge the best T20 teams in the world and probably win," added Watson.
He also hinted that KKR top-order batter Angkrish Raghuvanshi could be considered as a wicketkeeping option, as only the New Zealand duo of Tim Seifert and Finn Allen are specialist glovesmen.
"Yes, he is. Raghuvanshi has been working tirelessly on his wicketkeeping for the last five or six months. We also have Dishant Yagnik, who is one of the best fielding and wicket-keeping coaches in the world, not just in India. He has been working closely with Angkrish.
"He is certainly skilled, and we have seen him in practice matches as well. He is capable of handling the bowlers of IPL and KKR. This gives us several options depending on the team composition," he concluded.