The speculations about who will be Harshit Rana replacement at Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL 2026) season have finally been answered. The news of the same was confirmed via an official release on the IPL website.
Notably, the star Indian pacer was ruled out for the season since he won’t be fit in time after undergoing knee surgery. For the unversed, Harshit suffered a knee injury before the start of the T20 World Cup 2026 and was subsequently ruled out of the ICC event too.
While there were reports that KKR were looking at multiple domestic pacers as Harshit Rana replacement, the three-time winners have now confirmed former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) pacer Navdeep Saini will fill the void. He will join KKR for INR 75 lakhs.
Apart from plying his trade with RCB from 2019-2021, Navdeep Saini has also played for the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in IPL 2022 and IPL 2023. Speaking about the 33-year-old’s overall IPL numbers, he has played 32 matches and snared 23 wickets.
Navdeep, who has played for India across all three formats also looked in decent touch in the recent domestic season. In the Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT 2025-26), he was the second-highest wicket-taker for Delhi with 12 scalps from eight games with a best figure of 3/30. In the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT 2025) and Ranji Trophy 2025, four wickets from two matches and five wickets from three games, respectively.
The KKR fast bowling department took a major hit with multiple injuries but the management have now named replacements for all. Apart from Harshit Rana, Akash Deep was ruled out due to a lower-back stress fracture while Mustafizur Rahman had to be released due to political pressure. KKR signed Saurabh Dubey and Blessing Muzarabani as replacements.
Furthermore, there still remain concerns over the exact availability of overseas pacer Matheesha Pathirana, who was ruled out of the T20 World Cup 2026 midway due to a hamstring injury.
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On the other hand, Gujarat Titans (GT) will see the return of left-arm pacer Kulwant Khejroliya as a like-for-like replacement for Prithvi Raj Yarra. Interestingly, he was a part of GT last season but played only one game and managed a solitary wicket before being released ahead of the IPL 2026 auction.
Khejroliya, who has previously represented teams like RCB and KKR, will now join GT for INR 30 lakhs.
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