KKR sign Navdeep Saini as Harshit Rana replacement ahead of IPL 2026

The Indian Premier League 2026 (IPL 2026) is just three days away from beginning, while the three-time IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have got their replacement for the injured right-arm fast bowler Harshit Rana. The 33-year-old right-arm fast bowler Navdeep Saini is set to replace the 24-year-old fast bowler. 

KKR will play their first match of the IPL 2026 on March 29, when the five-time champions Mumbai Indians will host them in Mumbai. Before their season opener, the Knight Riders have set their complete squad. 

The Ajinkya Rahane-led KKR are focusing on a better performance in the IPL 2026, while they disappointed as the defending champions in the last IPL season (2025). They finished in the eighth position in the 2025 edition, which was their joint worst standing in IPL history (in the 2009 edition, they finished in eighth position out of eight participating teams).

Why Harshit Rana has been ruled out of IPL 2026

The right-arm fast bowler Harshit Rana is currently going through hard luck, as he first missed out on the entire ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 due to a knee injury, which he sustained during the pre-tournament warm-up match against South Africa. 

While Rana had surgery after that knee injury, the right-arm fast bowler has been forced to miss the entire IPL 2026. He is currently in the rehabilitation phase. Rana was the third leading wicket-taker for KKR in the last IPL season (15 wickets in 13 games), as the franchise will definitely miss him for the season. 

See Also: Watch: Dewald Brevis practices no-look shot in CSK camp ahead of IPL 2026

Navdeep Saini joins Kolkata Knight Riders as replacement pacer

After making his international cricket debut in August 2019, Navdeep Saini played two Tests, eight ODIs, and 11 T20Is, where the right-arm fast bowler picked up four, six, and 13 wickets, respectively. 

Meanwhile, Navdeep played his last IPL match in the 2023 edition. In 32 IPL matches, serving for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals, the right-arm fast bowler picked up 23 wickets. He remained unsold for the 2025 and 2026 auctions with the base price of INR 75 lakhs. However, he has now got a lucky break, where he has a good opportunity to prove himself once again. 

Currently, the KKR have the available Indian pacers as Vaibhav Arora, Umran Malik, Navdeep Saini, Kartik Tyagi, and Saurabh Dubey, while the Sri Lankan Matheesha Pathirana and the Zimbabwean Blessing Muzarabani are the overseas pacers. Meanwhile, Ramandeep Singh and the Australian Cameron Green are the pace-bowling all-rounders for the franchise. 

Updated squad of KKR for IPL 2026

Ajinkya Rahane (Captain), Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Manish Pandey, Rovman Powell, Rahul Tripathi, Finn Allen, Tejasvi Singh, Tim Seifert, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Cameron Green, Sarthak Ranjan, Daksh Kamra, Rachin Ravindra, Navdeep Saini, Vaibhav Arora, Umran Malik, Matheesha Pathirana, Kartik Tyagi, Akash Deep, Varun Chakaravarthy, Prashant Solanki.