IPL: IPL 2026 is going to start after 6 days i.e. from 28th March. Before the start of the 19th season, the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise is facing many problems. The team’s two fast bowlers Harshit Rana and Akash Deep are out of the tournament due to injury. Meanwhile, the franchise has announced the replacement of Akash Deep. In his place, he has included fast bowler Saurabh Dubey.
According to the report of Cricbuzz, after the exclusion of Akash Deep, KKR has decided to include Saurabh Dubey in the team. Dubey, a 28-year-old left-arm fast bowler, plays for Vidarbha in domestic cricket. He was earlier a part of Sunrisers Hyderabad team, but has not made his debut in IPL yet.
Subroto Banerjee gave a big statement regarding Saurabh Dubey
After the inclusion of Saurabh Dubey, Subroto Banerjee said that he is a very talented left-arm fast bowler. I remember when he went on the Bangladesh tour under Rahul Dravid for the 2019 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup. Dubey is an excellent bowler and can swing the ball both ways. This is a good decision by Knight Riders management. He has closely monitored Dubey’s game as a national selector and in Nagpur.
KKR is not finding replacement for Harshit Rana
Dubey’s inclusion in the team was confirmed by a Kolkata Knight Riders official. He also told that the franchise has not yet taken any decision regarding the replacement of Harshit Rana. Harshit Rana is also out of this season. KKR is looking for a perfect replacement for Harshit, which they have not found yet. For this reason he has not selected anyone yet.
Dubey remained unsold in mini auction
Dubey was not bought by anyone in the mini-auction held in Abu Dhabi last December. His name was at number 1215 in the ‘Registered Available Player Pool’ (RAPP) and his base price was Rs 30 lakh. According to IPL rules, it is necessary for a player to be a part of RAPP to be selected as a substitute. Dubey was earlier signed by SRH in 2022, but his tenure was short due to injury. He could not debut that season. Dubey has played 8 List A and 3 T20 matches so far.
Comments are closed.