KKR eye Virat Kohli's arch rival as Mustafizur Rahman's replacement for IPL 2026

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have to find a proper replacement for pacer Mustafizur Rahman. After spending a record amount of over INR 9 crore on the Bangladeshi pacer, the franchise had to release him as per BCCI's instruction. Now, ahead of the IPL 2026 season, KKR will have to find a suitable player who can fill the vacant place.

According to some speculations, the multi-time IPL-winning franchise can rope in Afghanistan pacer Naveen-Ul-Haq for the upcoming season. The Afghan pacer, who has a lot of experience in the T20 format, can add extra firepower in KKR's bowling department. The chances of seeing the Afghan pacer joining KKR have increased as he skipped the players draft of the Pakistan Super League 2026 (PSL 2026).

In a separate report, it is claimed that star cricketers of Afghanistan are not going to take part in PSL 2026; Naveen-Ul-Haq is one of them.

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KKR can sign Afghan pacer Naveen-Ul-Haq for IPL 2026 season

So far, the 26-year-old has played only a couple of Indian Premier League seasons. For the IPL 2023 and IPL 2024 seasons, he was with Lucknow Super Giants. But more than his bowling skills, it was the controversial moment with Virat Kohli that took him under the spotlight. The on-field fight between Virat Kohli and Naveen-ul-Haq became one of the major controversies during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. During the match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), Kohli got involved in a heated argument with Naveen, with the fight taking an ugly turn.

Now, if we talk about the seamer's bowling stats in the IPL, then in those two campaigns with LSG, he claimed a total of 25 wickets in 18 matches, but with an economy rate of 9.16, which is slightly on the higher side. Still, his wicket-taking ability is undeniable.