Kolkata Knight Riders have named Vidarbha left-arm fast-bowler Saurabh Dubey as a replacement for India speedster Akash Deep for the Indian Premier League 2026. Deep has been undergoing rehabilitation at the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru. However, the exact nature of his injury is not known.
Dubey is yet to make his IPL debut, with his stint with Sunrisers Hyderabad having been cut short due to an injury. He has come through the eyes of legendary former Indian cricketer Rahul Dravid, “He is a very talented left-arm fast bowler. I remember him touring Bangladesh under Rahul Dravid as part of the 2019 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup squad. He gets extra bounce off the wicket and can swing the ball both ways. It’s a good call by the Knight Riders management,” said Subroto Banerjee, who has worked with Dubey.
Franchise yet to take call on Rana’s replacement
Meanwhile, KKR have been hit with injury issues. India fast bowler Harshit Rana has been ruled out of the tournament that gets underway on March 28 due to his knee injury. As reported by Cricbuzz, the franchise is yet to take a call on Rana’s replacement.
Dubey went unsold at the IPL 2026 mini-auction. He was picked by SRH in 2022, but his stint was cut short due to injury.
His last competitive appearance came for Vidarbha in the 2023–24 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Before that, he had featured in four matches for the state in the 2020–21 Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Remainder of IPL schedule to be out soon
The report further claimed that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has informed the franchises that the remainder of the IPL schedule will be announced in three to four days. The schedule for the first 20 matches was announced; however, due to the upcoming elections in West Bengal, Assam, and Tamil Nadu, the complete fixtures were not announced. As the election dates have now been announced, the BCCI is working on announcing the full schedule.
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