“He will go there for sure” - Kris Srikkanth opens up on KKR’s auction picks

Former Indian chief selector Kris Srikkanth has asserted that the Sri Lankan pacer Matheesha Pathirana will be picked up by the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) franchise in the IPL 2026 mini-auction on Tuesday, December 16.

Speaking exclusively on his YouTube channel, Srikkanth believed that Pathirana would be backed by Dwayne Bravo, who has been part of the KKR support staff. He also added that Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman would also be a part of the KKR set-up.

"Pathirana will go there for sure as Bravo is there and he trained Pathirana. They will also go for Mustafizur. Vaibhav Arora got him plenty of times last season. So they need a few pace-bowling options,” Kris Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel.

Furthermore, Srikkanth also feels that the KKR think tank team would go hard in roping in the Australian all-rounder Cameron Green and South African opening batter Quinton de Kock. Also, he reckoned that if KKR doesn’t get De Kock’s services, they can go for Jonny Bairstow, the English attacking keeper-batter.

"Along with Cameron Green, they should go for Quinton de Kock. Yes, they released De Kock, but they might probably get him again in the auction. De Kock is in brilliant form, and he's used to Indian conditions. I'll go all-out for Cameron Green and Quinton de Kock. They'll definitely get both as they've the maximum purse and they need them especially without Andre Russell. If not De Kock, they can go for Jonny Bairstow. It has to be Cameron Green and one of De Kock or Bairstow. They need an explosive opener for sure," he added.

KKR Released Players list 

Andre Russell, Anrich Nortje, Chetan Sakariya, Luvnith Sisodia, Moeen Ali, Quinton de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Spencer Johnson, Venkatesh Iyer, Mayank Markande (traded to Mumbai Indians). 

KKR Retained Players list

Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Charkravarthy.

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