KKR pick 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, as first reported by Cricbuzz on March 21, 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. It's a good call by the Knight Riders management," said Subroto Banerjee, who has closely tracked Dubey both as a national selector and in Nagpur, where he is based. Cricbuzz has learnt that 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. Dubey was signed by SRH in 2022, but his stint was cut short due to injury.

Dubey last played for Vidarbha in the 2023-24 season in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Prior to that he had represented the state side in four matches in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in the 2020-21 season.

Meanwhile, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCII) has informed franchises that it will need at least three to four days to announce the remainder of the season's schedule. While fixtures for the first 20 games (up to April 12) have been released, the timeline for the remaining 54 matches is yet to be finalised.

The staggered announcement is necessitated by elections in IPL states such as Assam, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. Now that the election dates are out, the BCCI is in the process of finalising the rest of the fixtures. The season, of course, gets underway on March 28.

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