India, Dec. 10 -- Matheesha Pathirana walks into the IPL 2026 mini-auction as the purest definition of a high-variance asset: 32 IPL games, 47 wickets at an average of 21.62 and an economy under nine, but a sharp dip in 2025 after injuries and an action twak that blunted his yorker.

Chennai Super Kings had doubled down on the Sri Lankan slinger with an INR 13 cr retention ahead of the 2025 mega auction, only to release him a year later after a season of 13 wickets at 10.14 that forced a ruthless reset.

The market, though, hasn't cooled. Pathirana sits in the top INR 2 cr base-price bracket, name-checked alongside Cameron Green, and now operates under a new rule that caps any overseas player's actual salary at INR 18 cr even if the biddi...