{"id":22500,"date":"2025-12-16T16:01:54","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T10:31:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/?p=671921"},"modified":"2025-12-16T16:01:54","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T10:31:54","slug":"ipl-2026-auctions-matheesha-pathirana-becomes-most-expensive-sri-lankan-player-in-ipl-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/cricket\/ipl\/ipl-2026-auctions-matheesha-pathirana-becomes-most-expensive-sri-lankan-player-in-ipl-history\/","title":{"rendered":"IPL 2026 Auctions: Matheesha Pathirana becomes most expensive Sri Lankan player in IPL history"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sri Lankan fast bowler <strong>Matheesha Pathirana<\/strong> created history at the <strong>IPL 2026 mini-auction<\/strong> after being sold to <strong>Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for Rs 18 crore<\/strong>, making him the <strong>most expensive Sri Lankan cricketer ever bought at an IPL auction<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Pathirana\u2019s signing came after a high-intensity bidding war that saw <strong>Lucknow Super Giants (LSG)<\/strong> and <strong>Delhi Capitals (DC)<\/strong> push his price beyond <strong>Rs 14 crore<\/strong> before KKR entered the contest at around <strong>Rs 16 crore<\/strong>. The three-way battle ended with KKR securing the pacer at Rs 18 crore, setting a new benchmark for Sri Lankan players in IPL history.<\/p>\n<p>The 22-year-old rose to prominence during his stint with <strong>Chennai Super Kings (CSK)<\/strong>, whom he represented from <strong>2022 to 2025<\/strong>. Known for his distinctive <strong>sling-shot action<\/strong>, Pathirana established himself as one of the most effective death bowlers in the league. In <strong>32 IPL matches<\/strong>, he has taken <strong>47 wickets<\/strong> at an average of <strong>21.62<\/strong> and an economy rate of <strong>8.68<\/strong>, with best figures of <strong>4 for 28<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>His breakthrough season came in <strong>IPL 2023<\/strong>, when he played a vital role in CSK\u2019s title-winning campaign, picking up <strong>19 wickets in 12 matches<\/strong> at an economy of <strong>8.01<\/strong>. Although injuries hampered his <strong>2024 season<\/strong> and his economy rate rose in <strong>2025<\/strong>, franchises continued to value his wicket-taking ability in the death overs.<\/p>\n<p>Pathirana entered the <strong>IPL 2026 auction<\/strong> with a <strong>base price of Rs 2 crore<\/strong>, but demand for elite death bowlers saw his price skyrocket. With this Rs 18 crore deal, he surpassed all previous Sri Lankan auction records, underlining his status as one of the most sought-after fast bowlers in the IPL.<\/p>\n<p>The record-breaking signing places Pathirana at the centre of <strong>KKR\u2019s bowling plans<\/strong> as they head into IPL 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sri Lankan fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana created history at the IPL 2026 mini-auction after being sold to Kolkata Knight Riders\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":250,"featured_media":42692,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4057],"class_list":["post-22500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ipl","tag-top-stories"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/250"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}