“Could be a huge mistake” - Ex-Indian cricketer cautions KKR after signing Matheesha Pathirana for INR 18 Crore

Former Indian cricketer Shreevats Goswami, on Tuesday, December 16, took to his official X (Formerly Twitter) handle to caution the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) franchise for splurging INR 18 crore for the Sri Lankan pacer Matheesha Pathirana.

Advertisment

Interestingly, Pathirana’s former franchise, Chennai Super Kings (CSK), didn’t show any interest in the Lankan pacer in the IPL 2026 mini-auction, as Goswami questioned KKR for the logic behind paying him INR 5 crore more than his previous salary.

Taking to his X social media handle, Goswami noted an interesting point from Pathirana’s underwhelming IPL 2025 season. Notably, Pathirana could play 12 matches in the IPL 2025 season, scalping 13 wickets at an economy rate of 10.13 while conceding a whopping 32 wides - The most wides by any bowler in a single IPL edition.

“18 crs for Pathirana? Just saying ... Just for unique action? CSK used him after the 12th over I remember and only [MS] Dhoni could bring out the best ... during 2024. I hope KKR manages to bring out the best in him or else this could turn out to be a huge mistake," Goswami wrote on X.

https://x.com/shreevats1/status/2000877506010722517 

For the unversed, Matheesha Pathirana was roped in by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in IPL 2022, and he was with the franchise until the IPL 2025 season. In IPL, he played a total of 32 matches and claimed 47 wickets at an average of 21.16. 

Moreover, Kolkata also splurged INR 25.20 crore to acquire the services of the Australian all-rounder, Cameron Green, as he emerged as the most expensive overseas signing in IPL Auction history, overtaking Mitchell Starc’s IPL 2024 bid by KKR.

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) squad for IPL 2026

Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell*, Sunil Narine*, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, Cameron Green*, Matheesha Pathirana*, Mustafizur Rahman*, Tejasvi Singh, Rachin Ravindra*, Finn Allen*, Tim Seifert*, Akash Deep, Rahul Tripathi, Daksh Kamra, Sarthak Ranjan, Prashant Solanki, Kartik Tyagi.

Advertisment

*indicates overseas players.

Stay updated with the latest cricket news, match insights, and exclusive updates at Sky247 India and download the Sky247 app to start betting today!