Amidst Depleted IPL 2026 Pace Battery, KKR Concerns Worsen After Umran Malik Concedes 36 Runs in One Over in DY Patil T20 Cup

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) face a major headache ahead of the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2026), especially in the fast bowling department. The three-time champions already struggled with their overseas pace bowling unit last year, which saw them release Anrich Nortje and Spencer Johnson.

Although KKR bought Mustafizur Rahman and Matheesha Pathirana as replacements, the Bangladeshi pacer has now been removed from the side due to political reasons. On the other hand, the Sri Lankan quick picked up a muscle strain recently during the T20 World Cup 2026 which ruled him out of the ICC event, further casting doubts on his IPL participation. Furthermore, India international, Harshit Rana too is injured with a knee problem that he incurred prior to the start of the T20 World Cup.

With a depleted pace attack already, the KKR woes have worsened after their domestic fast bowler Umran Malik is looking in poor form in the buildup to IPL 2026.

Plying his trade for the Tata Sports Club in the DY Patil T20 Cup 2026, the J&K pacer ended up conceding 36 runs in one over during a match against Mumbai Customs today (February 25). Umran Malik bowled only two overs in the contest, leaking 23 runs in the other over he bowled and returned wicketless.

Earlier, in the match against DY Patil Red, Umran once again had lacklustre figures, finishing his quota of four overs with figures of 1/41 in 4, including a 27-run over in the powerplay.

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Will Umran Malik feature in KKR Playing XI for IPL?

Notably, the 26-year-old was roped in by KKR ahead of the IPL 2025 auction for INR 75 lakhs, but did not feature last season after getting ruled out due to injury. However, with a depleted pace attack, Umran will be expected to shoulder responsibility and KKR will hope he finds his rhythm soon.

Apart from Umran, KKR has Vaibhav Arora, Akash Deep and Kartik Tyagi amongst their domestic fast bowling options for IPL 2026.

So far in the IPL, Umran Malik has played 26 games, all for SRH, picking up 29 scalps including one four-wicket haul and a fifer.

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