Why did LSG bid Rs 20 crore for Mathisha Pathirana? Team owner Sanjeev Goenka explained the reason

Matheesha Pathirana: The mini auction for IPL 2026 (IPL 2026 Mini Auction) has been organized in Abu Dhabi on 16 December. During this period, there were many players on whom crores were rained while some players remained unsold. During this time, Lucknow Super Giants team surprised everyone and made a bid of up to Rs 20 crore for Matheesha Pathirana.

LSG fans were very surprised by this decision of the team after a bid of up to Rs 20 crore was made for Matheesha Pathirana, but now team owner Sanjeev Goenka has revealed the reason behind it.

Sanjeev Goenka told why he bid Rs 20 crore for Matheesha Pathirana

For IPL 2026, Lucknow Super Giants needed 1 fast bowler and 1 spinner. For this reason, the LSG team decided to bid up to Rs 20 crore for Matheesha Pathirana. However, in the end Sanjiv Goenka decided to back out and then KKR gave Rs 18 crore to Mathisha Pathirana and included many others in their team.

Sanjiv Goenka’s LSG then included South African fast bowler Enrique Norkhia and Sri Lankan mystery spinner Wanindu Hasaranga in their team. Talking about this, Sanjeev Goenka said that

“We wanted to take Pathirana, but if we had spent Rs 20 crore on him, there would not have been enough money left in our purse. After this, further planning was not possible with Rs 2.9 crore. So we had to leave Pathirana. Later, we got Enrique Norkhia and Wanindu Hasaranga at the base price, which worked in our favor. Both are excellent bowlers and Mohammed Shami will also be with the team, so our bowling looks very strong in the coming season. Coming, we had kept aside Rs 20 crores especially for one fast bowler and one spinner.

LSG bought these 6 players in IPL 2026 mini auction

In the mini auction of IPL 2026, LSG team had entered the auction with Rs 22 crores, LSG had released Ravi Bishnoi, in such a situation the team needed 1 star spinner and 1 fast bowler. LSG included uncapped player Mukul Chaudhary for Rs 2.60 crore, Akshat Raghuvanshi for Rs 2.20 crore, Wanindu Hasaranga for Rs 2 crore, Enrique Norkhia for Rs 2 crore and left arm pacer Naman Tiwari for Rs 1 crore.

Whereas LSG team has included Australian wicketkeeper batsman Josh Inglis in its team for Rs 8.60 crore. The most surprising thing during this period is that he will be a part of the team only in 5 or 6 matches.