India, Dec. 17 -- Sri Lankan pacer Matheesha Pathirana entered the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 mini auction at a base price of INR 2 crore, and in the end, he ended up fetching nine times the money, going for INR 18 crore to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). A three-way bidding war broke out between KKR, Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG); however, in the end, the three-time champions came out on the right side of the result.

Midway through the mini auction, LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka revealed that his captain, Rishabh Pant, was really keen on having Pathirana on board, and this is the main reason behind their going up to INR 17.8 crore.

However, he revealed that the franchise reached the breaking point as INR 18 crore was the a...