Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) may suffer a major setback in the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). KKR fast bowler Harshit Rana has not been fit after knee surgery. He is certain to be out of the initial matches of IPL 2026. A media report has claimed that Harshit may be out of the entire season. Harshit suffered a knee injury in the warm-up match of the T20 World Cup 2026 against South Africa. Due to this, he was out of T20 World Cup 2026.
Harshit had undergone successful knee surgery in February but it is difficult for him to get fit on time. If he is unable to play, it will be a big blow for KKR. Harshit made this team champion for the third time by taking 19 wickets in IPL 2024. Last season also he took 15 wickets in 13 matches.
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Who can be Harshit’s replacement?
Right-arm fast bowler Harshit Rana was retained by KKR for Rs 4 crore. As his replacement, KKR will have to sign a player within this amount. The franchise no longer even has the option of signing a foreign fast bowler, as it has included Zimbabwean fast bowler Blessing Muzarabani in place of Mustafizur Rahman. Akash Madhwal can be a better option for KKR. Akash Madhwal remained unsold in the mini auction of IPL 2026. According to BCCI rules, only the player who had given his name in the auction before the start of the season can be signed as a replacement.
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Akash Madhwal’s IPL career
Uttarakhand’s fast bowler Akash Madhwal has played for Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals in IPL. He took 14 wickets in 8 matches in his debut season playing for Mumbai Indians in 2023. After this he played 5 matches in 2024 and took 5 wickets. Last season he was in the team of Rajasthan Royals. He got a chance to play 4 matches, in which he took 4 wickets. This 32-year-old right-arm fast bowler has played a total of 17 IPL matches and has taken 23 wickets. During this period his economy has been 10.05.
KKR squad: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakraborty, 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, Mathisha Pathirana, Karthik Tyagi, Prashant Solanki, Akash Deep, Harshit Rana, Umran Malik, Blessing Muzarabani
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