Is Matheesha Pathirana playing today’s CSK vs KKR IPL 2024 match?

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) pacer Matheesha Pathirana misses out from the playing XI yet again for the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) clash against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium

Pathirana has had an erratic start to the season so far. He joined the squad late after suffering an injury on national duty, and missed the opening contest against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). He returned to playing XI for the next two matches, making an impact straightaway by picking up four wickets.

However, his niggle flared up once again, forcing him to miss CSK's away encounter against SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH). He continues to be unavailable, as CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad confirmed during the toss ahead of the clash against KKR.

"Good toss to win. It looks humid, expecting dew tonight, so we will bowl first. Hasn't dented our confidence, we have lost by small margins. Everyone is confident in our group, but we have had forced changes. Definitely looking forward to getting a win in this game. They are playing a good brand of cricket, we want to keep things simple and want to focus on ourselves. Pathirana is not available," Gaiwkad said after opting to bowl first.

CSK will severely miss Matheesha Pathirana as they take on a high-flying KKR batting unit that has amassed scores of over 200 twice already.

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How does CSK's pace bowling unit look in Pathirana's absence?

CSK's injury crisis continues as Deepak Chahar has also been ruled out of the clash due to a niggle. However, veteran seamer Mustafizur Rahman is back with the team after missing the previous encounter to complete his US visa formalities in Bangladesh.

As a result, the defending champions have included Shardul Thakur in the playing XI as Mukesh Choudhary misses out from the last encounter in the pace unit.

Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Philip Salt (wk), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer(c), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Vaibhav Arora, and Varun Chakaravarthy.

Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Rachin Ravindra, Ajinkya Rahane, Daryl Mitchell, Sameer Rizvi, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (wk), Shardul Thakur, Mustafizur Rahman, Tushar Deshpande, and Maheesh Theekshana.