Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Kolkata Knight Riders IPL 2026: KKR may finally unleash their Rs 18 crore-buy Matheesha Pathirana against SRH in Hyderabad on Sunday.
Updated: May 3, 2026 9:22 AM IST
SRH vs KKR IPL 2026: Kolkata Knight Riders have been dogged by injury issues so far this season with their Rs 18 crore-buy Matheesha Pathirana yet to make an appearance while Rs 25.2 crore purchase Cameron Green has been bowling sparingly in the IPL 2026 season so far. On Sunday, three-time winners KKR may finally have the services of both Pathirana and Green together as they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
Pathirana got NOC to play from Sri Lanka Cricket late last month after getting in injured in the middle of the T20 World Cup 2026 earlier this year. But bringing in Pathirana will mean that KKR will have to drop either opener Tim Seifert or West Indies all-rounder Rovman Powell. If Seifert is dropped, then all-rounder Sunil Narine maybe asked to open the batting to bring in a left-handed batter at the top of the order as well.
“Yes, he’s arrived. He’s been around the group for a little bit now. We’ll look at conditions and make a decision on the side that we think is best for tomorrow’s game. He’s been bowling well at training and it’s great to have him a part of the side,” KKR bowling coach Tim Southee said about Matheesha Pathirana in the pre-match press conference on Saturday.
Asked about Pathirana’s selection for the game against SRH on Sunday, Southee said, “Yes, you take a number of things into consideration for selection. Obviously, the balance of a side, the makeup of your team. In the IPL, your makeup with the overseas has to change when you make those changes. So, those decisions will be taken into account along with the conditions that we’re looking to be faced with tomorrow.”
KKR may also give the new ball to Narine against SRH, given Australian opener Travis Head’s struggles against the former West Indies off-spinner as he has a strike-rate of just around 95. The visitors may also like to bring in batter Rahul Tripathi or wicketkeeper Tejasvi Dahiya into the mix if Rovman Powell or Ramandeep Singh is dropped from the middle order.
The home teams SRH are unlikely to make too many changes in their playing 11 after their massive six-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in the last match when they chased down a 240-plus target at the Wankhede Stadium last week.
Afternoon showdown at Uppal pic.twitter.com/NmZoAhrAbM
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) May 3, 2026
Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Kolkata Knight Riders IPL 2026 match no 45 Predicted 12
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Salil Arora, Aniket Verma, Pat Cummins (c), Harsh Dubey, Eshan Malinga, Praful Hinge, Sakib Hussain
Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Tim Seifert (wk), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Kartik Tyagi, Vaibhav Arora
