Kolkata Knight Riders Sign Saurabh Dubey as Replacement for Injured Akash Deep Ahead of IPL 2026 Season

Kolkata. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have made a significant change to their squad ahead of the start of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season.

Kolkata has signed 28-year-old left-arm fast bowler Saurabh Dubey to replace fast bowler Akash Deep, who has been ruled out for the entire season due to injury. Dubey, who plays domestic cricket for Vidarbha, was previously part of the Sunrisers Hyderabad squad but has yet to make his IPL debut.

Former national selector Subroto Banerjee described Dubey as a talented bowler. According to him, Dubey possesses the special ability to swing the ball and extract extra bounce from the pitch.

Banerjee closely observed Dubey's bowling during the ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup tour of Bangladesh in 2019 alongside Rahul Dravid. Dubey, who has been in excellent form recently, has also been assisting various teams as a net bowler.

Dubey went unsold in the mini-auction held last December with a base price of INR 30 lakh. Since he was included in the Registered Available Player Pool, Kolkata was able to bring him in as a replacement. Hyderabad retained him in their team in 2022, but he was sidelined due to injury. This time, Akash Deep's injury has opened another big door for him to showcase his talent on the IPL stage.

On the other hand, the absence of another key KKR bowler, Harshit Rana, has become a headache. According to information provided by a team official to the cricket website Cricbuzz, no concrete decision has yet been made regarding Rana's replacement. The team management feels that an Indian bowler of Rana's caliber is not currently available in the list of players. Therefore, Kolkata still appears uncertain about whether to bring in a replacement for Rana or manage with the available players.

Managing the bowling unit looks challenging for KKR this season. Losing an experienced bowler like Akash Deep and failing to find a replacement for Harshit Rana is expected to affect the team's balance to some extent.