KKR named Saurabh Dubey as Akash Deep replacement

Kolkata Knight Riders have roped in Saurabh Dubey for IPL 2026. The 28-year-old left-arm Vidarbha pacer replaces Akash Deep, who has been ruled out of the season. Dubey was previously part of the Sunrisers Hyderabad squad but is yet to make his IPL debut. "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. Subroto Banerjee, who has closely followed Dubey both as a national selector and in Nagpur, where he is based, stated, "It's a good call by the Knight Riders management." Dubey has already joined the Knight Riders camp in Kolkata. The recruitment of Dubey was confirmed by a Kolkata Knight Riders official, who also revealed that the franchise has not yet taken a call on a replacement for Harshit Rana, who is also ruled out for the season. The impression within the franchise, as previously reported by this website, is that there is no suitable Indian replacement for Rana, who has played for India in all formats. Dubey had gone 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. Players must be part of the RAPP to be eligible as replacements. In 2022, SRH signed Dubey, but he was injured and had to leave. Dubey last played for Vidarbha in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in the 2023–24 season. Prior to that, he had played for the state team in four matches during the 2020-21 Vijay Hazare Trophy season.