New Delhi, March 25 (IANS) Three-time winners Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have picked Navdeep Saini as a player replacement for the injured Harshit Rana for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, whereas Gujarat Titans have replaced Prithviraj Yarra with Kulwant Khejroliya.

Rana was previously ruled out of the tournament because of a ligament strain in his right knee that he got during the T20 World Cup, further weakening KKR’s bowling unit. Akash Deep and Matheesha Pathirana are also out with injuries.

Saini has previously played for Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).

“Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Gujarat Titans (GT) have picked Navdeep Saini and Kulwant Khejroliya, respectively, as player replacements for Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026,” the IPL said in a statement.

The right-arm pacer Navdeep Saini has scalped 23 wickets in 32 IPL matches played so far, in addition to 23 wickets in international cricket for India. He will replace the injured Rana for Rs 75 Lakh.

After joining KKR, Saini said, “To be honest, I am feeling very good because the way we say Kolkata Knight Riders, if you have to explain this to a person, there is a feeling in it. So, I am feeling very good as a Knight Rider. I got to know about this last night. As soon as I got to know about this, I was not able to understand how to react.

“Because I knew that the way I am working hard and the way it is going on now, there was a plan from before, it was manifested, to be honest, the reality. So, I knew that it would happen anytime. But it is very important to have faith in God. So, I did the same thing, and as it happened, I enjoyed it a lot,” Saini told ‘KKR Knight Club’.

“If I give another name to this opportunity, I can call it a revival. Because the way my last 2-3 years journey was, there were ups and downs. But at that time, the most important thing was to stand there. To be honest, doing hard work, because ever since I started playing domestically, since my debut, I have been playing with only one thing, and that is hard work. So, when the ups and downs came, to stand, work out, and do hard work, I didn’t leave that. So, because of that, I got this opportunity. So, I can call it a revival,” he added.

Meanwhile, Khejroliya, the left-arm pacer, who has 6 IPL wickets to his name, has previously featured for GT, KKR, and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). He will join GT for Rs 30 lakh.

–IANS

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