Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Bangar believes Matheesha Pathirana is a potential target for the Lucknow Super Giants. CSK released Pathirana before of the auction following four consecutive seasons with them. The auction is slated for December 16 in Abu Dhabi.
Bangar emphasised LSG’s key goal of building their quick bowling section. He also doubted if Digvesh Rathi, who impressed in his inaugural IPL campaign, will be able to repeat his performance.
“They can look at acquiring an overseas quick because that is their main need. Maybe, Pathirana would be fantastic. LSG would certainly like to look at somebody like a Pathirana to beef up their fast-bowling department. They would certainly want to have a backup for Digvesh Rathi from an Indian standpoint, but for me, Pathirana could be a good target for LSG going into the auction. Rathi had a very good first season, but can he replicate that?” shared Bangar while speaking on Star Sports.
LSG recently used the trade window to bring in veteran pacer Mohammed Shami from Sunrisers Hyderabad.
The Sanjiv Goenka-owned franchise kept 19 players and has a residual budget of INR 22.95 crore. They have six remaining places, four of which are overseas.
LSG’s current pacers include Avesh Khan, Prince Yadav, Akash Deep, and Mayank Yadav, as well as the freshly acquired Shami. They also acquired Arjun Tendulkar from the Mumbai Indians after dealing Shardul Thakur to the five-time winners. The bowling attack is currently extremely stacked.
Barring Pathirana’s first season, the Sri Lankan quick has been amongst the wickets. He secured a total of 55 wickets across three seasons from 2023 to 2025. Pathirana last played competitive cricket for Sri Lanka in the 2025 Asia Cup in the United Arab Emirates.
LSG qualified for the playoffs in their first two seasons in the IPL (2022 and 2023). The 2024 and 2025 seasons were slight disappointments as the finished seventh on both occasions.
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