Kolkata Knight Riders sign Saurabh Dubey as Akash Deep replacement ahead of IPL 2026

The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are having a tough time ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 as another player has been ruled out due to injury. Akash Deep, the pacer who was roped in by KKR in the auction, is replaced by Saurabh Dubey, a pacer from Vidharbha. Dubey was previously part of the SRH but has yet to make his IPL debut. 

Meanwhile, KKR still don't have a replacement for Harshit Rana and Matheesha Pathirana ahead of the tournament. The franchise has made it clear that they don't need a replacement for these players as they already have enough strength in their squad. Well, the three-time IPL champions do have a strong bowling line-up heading into the season. 

Who is Saurabh Dubey? Vidarbha pacer yet to make IPL debut

Saurabh Dubey is a pace bowler from Vidharbha who has not yet made a name in domestic cricket. The 28-year-old player has featured in just eight List A matches, taking 16 wickets. He has played in three T20s and hasn't got his maiden wicket yet. Interestingly, he last played in domestic cricket in 2023. 

"He is a very talented left-arm fast bowler. I remember him touring Bangladesh under Rahul Dravid as part of the 2019 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup squad. He gets extra bounce off the wicket and can swing the ball both ways. It's a good call by the Knight Riders management," said Subroto Banerjee.

KKR going for a player who is not actively playing domestic cricket is a shocking point. Dubey was a part of SRH in 2022 but couldn't feature due to injury. Meanwhile, he went unsold at the Abu Dhabi mini-auction last December and was listed at No. 1215 in the Registered Available Player Pool (RAPP) with a base price of INR 30 lakh. 

Why Akash Deep has been ruled out of IPL 2026

KKR will head into the IPL 2026 season with Akash Deep, as he failed to recover in time from a lower-back stress injury. He is currently at the BCCI's Centre of Excellence for rehabilitation. The franchise bought the 29-year-old pacer for ₹1 crore at the IPL 2026 mini-auction. He was expected to recover in time, but that didn't happen, and it was a huge blow for the three-time champions. 

However, KKR do have a solid bowling line-up in the likes of Vaibhav Arora, Umran Malik, Kartik Tyagi, Cameron Green, Blessing Muzarbani, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy, and Ramandeep Singh. This is the reason why the management decided not to bring in any more replacements for Rana and Pathirana. Meanwhile, Pathirana might come back in the latter half of the tournament.

KKR's full squad ahead of IPL 2026

Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Manish Pandey, Finn Allen (wicketkeeper), Tejasvi Singh (wicketkeeper), Rahul Tripathi, Tim Seifert (wicketkeeper), Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine, Cameron Green, Anukul Roy, Sarthak Ranjan, Daksh Kamra, Rachin Ravindra, Ramandeep Singh, Blessing Muzarabani, Vaibhav Arora, Matheesha Pathirana (injured), Kartik Tyagi, Prashant Solanki, Saurabh Dubey, Umran Malik, Varun Chakravarthy.