The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are somehow still alive. Barely. After spending most of IPL 2026 stumbling through batting collapses and injuries, KKR head into their clash against Mumbai Indians (MI) knowing that they don’t have any other option but to win. Even then, it won’t guarantee anything.
Five wins in their last six games have kept KKR in the conversation after a disastrous first half of the season. The revival has largely come through the batting heroes. Finn Allen has blasted 240 runs at a strike rate of 233, while Angkrish Raghuvanshi has become one of the most reliable young batters in the tournament with 213 runs at an average of 71.
The problem is their biggest match of the season arrives with two major fitness headaches. Varun Chakaravarthy is still struggling with a toe fracture, while Matheesha Pathirana’s hamstring issue has left KKR short on pace options as well. KKR need to win both remaining matches and still hope results elsewhere go their way.
Chakaravarthy’s fitness remains KKR’s biggest concern
KKR’s template revolve around Varun Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine. Even when the batting failed, their middle-overs control kept them alive in games. While Narine is ageing like a fine wine, Chakaravarthy’s IPL 2026 has been quite bewildering. His body is barely cooperating.
The mystery spinner missed the RCB game because of a hairline toe fracture and returned against Gujarat Titans while clearly not fully fit. KKR have continued to play him, and the BCCI can’t do anything about it. He bowled his full spell but looked uncomfortable throughout, limping repeatedly during and after overs.
On Tuesday, Varun trained behind the sightscreen, away from cameras, which itself said plenty. KKR are desperate to get him on the park but equally aware they may not have a fully functioning version of their best spinner.
KKR spinners at Eden Gardens in T20s
BowlerInnsWicketsAverageEconomyBestSunil Narine697722.406.545/19Varun Chakaravarthy273723.868.604/15Against Mumbai, Varun Chakaravarthy’s role becomes even more important because KKR badly need wickets in the middle overs. Rohit Sharma, in particular, has struggled against Sunil Narine, who has dismissed the Hitman ten times. Rohit has struck at just 106.11 against the KKR’s MVP.
What about Matheesha Pathirana?
Matheesha Pathirana’s situation looks even more doubtful. The Sri Lankan quick injured his hamstring just eight balls into his debut game for KKR against Gujarat Titans and has not trained properly since. Anukul Roy confirmed the medical staff are still assessing him, which isn’t the greatest sign this late in the season. If Pathirana misses out, KKR are likely to bring back Blessing Muzarabani, who has not played since April 2.
Predicted KKR Playing XI vs MI
Batting OrderPlayer1Ajinkya Rahane (c)2Finn Allen 3Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk)4Cameron Green 5Manish Pandey6Rinku Singh7Sunil Narine 8Anukul Roy9Varun Chakaravarthy / Prashant Solanki10Saurabh Dubey11Kartik Tyagi12Blessing MuzarabaniPredicted KKR Playing XI vs MI: Will Varun Chakaravarthy and Matheesha Pathirana play? Inside Sport India.
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