KKR Replace Injured Akash Deep Ahead of IPL 2026, Sign Vidarbha Pacer as Replacement
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) is making some last-minute changes to their squad as pacer Akash Deep is ruled out of IPL 2026 due to injury. To replace him, the Kolkata-based franchise has signed 28-year-old left-arm pacer Saurabh Dubey from Vidarbha, as per Cricbuzz. Dubey had earlier been with Sunrisers Hyderabad but did not get a chance to play a match.
Former selector Subroto Banerjee praised the decision and stated, “Saurabh Dubey is a talented fast bowler. Dubey had toured Sri Lanka with Rahul Dravid’s Emerging Team. He is capable of getting extra bounce and swing the ball both ways. This decision by the KKR management seems to be a smart one.”
However, KKR’s bowling woes don’t end here. Just a few days back, their primary fast bowler Harshit Rana was ruled out of the whole tournament due to knee surgery. After this, Blessing Muzarabani was included in the KKR squad from PSL.
However, their bowling attack still seems a bit weak. Still, there is no official news about Matheesha Pathirana’s fitness. Also, there are concerns about whether Cameron Green will be available to bowl. Injuries to Umran Malik are a recurring issue; hence, it is difficult to count on him. Hence, KKR may still need to include more fast bowlers to boost their squad before the season starts.
KKR Full Squad - IPL 2026:
Ajinkya Rahane (Captain), Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Manish Pandey, Cameron Green, Finn Allen, Tejasvi Singh, Rahul Tripathi, Tim Seifert, Rovman Powell, Anukul Roy, Sarthak Ranjan, Daksh Kamra, Rachin Ravindra, Ramandeep Singh, Vaibhav Arora, Matheesha Pathirana, Kartik Tyagi, Prashant Solanki, Umran Malik, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Blessing Muzarabani (Akash Deep ruled out).
