There is a popular saying that batters may win you games, but bowlers win you tournaments—and it perfectly applies to the Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of the upcoming IPL 2026 season. The three-time IPL champions possess a formidable bowling attack, featuring impressive depth and variety across both the pace and spin departments.
The Shahrukh Khan-owned franchise made headlines in the IPL 2026 mini-auction by securing Australian all-rounder Cameron Green for Rs 25.2 crore and Sri Lankan pacer Matheesha Pathirana for Rs 18 crore. Pathirana has taken 47 wickets in 32 IPL matches at an economy rate of 8.68. With the franchise releasing both Anrich Nortje and Spencer Johnson, they needed a quality overseas pacer and Pathirana is a perfect addition. His biggest strength is to bowl lethal yorkers at the death.
The Knights further bolstered their pace attack by adding Bangladesh left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman who was bought at the auction for Rs 9.20 crore. He can open the bowling, alongside bowling in the death overs. With only four overseas players allowed, the bigger question is can you include both Mustafizur and Pathirana in the playing XI? With Cameron Green and Sunil Narine likely to feature in all the games, one among Pathirana and Mustafizur is set to get an opportunity.
Kolkata has also bought Indian-capped pacer Akash Deep for his base price Rs 1 crore. He joins Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora and Umran Malik, giving plenty of options to the team management. The franchise has also picked pace bowler Kartik Tyagi (Rs 30 lakh) and spinner Prashant Solanki (Rs 30 lakh) to provide back-up options.
In the spin-bowling department, the onus will be on Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy. The spin-duo will be expected to make a massive impact. Harshit is expected to share the new ball with either Pathirana or Mustafizur. Green can be used in the middle overs and you also have Arora, Deep and Umran as the back up options.
Former India cricketer Irfan Pathan tweeted, “Now that Matheesha Pathirana has come into KKR, they have covered all phases of the 20 overs in their bowling,” Pathan said. He detailed the team’s bowling structure: “Harshit Rana – Powerplay, Death; Vaibhav Arora – Powerplay; Cameron Green – Middle overs, HTD; Pathirana – Middle overs, Death; Varun Chakravarthy – Powerplay, Middle; Sunil Narine – Middle overs.”
It is evident from the mini-IPL auction that the think-tank was keen on strengthening their pace-bowling department. In that regard, the additions of Green, Pathirana, Mustafizur and Akash could bolster their campaign.
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