Kolkata : Navdeep Saini has replaced Harshit Rana in Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Squad for IPL 2026, for 75 Lakhs. Rana was ruled out few days back owing to an injury, after missing ICC T20 WC 2026 campaign due to same reason.
Saini has played two Tests, eight ODIs and 11 T20Is for India, taking 23 wickets overall, but has been out of the side since 2021.
In IPL, he has been part of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the past. In 32 IPL games, he has picked up 23 wickets at an economy rate of 8.88. Just like his India career, his IPL career too had been on hold, as he played his last game in 2023 against Punjab Kings where he finished with spell of 40/3.
“If I have to give this opportunity another name, I will call it revival,” Saini told KKR Knight Club. “I saw many ups and downs in the last two-three years. But the important thing was to be there and keep working hard. Ever since I started playing cricket, I have relied on hard work. So I didn’t give that up and because of that, I got this opportunity. You can say this has revived me.”
On Monday, KKR had signed Saurabh Dubey for the injured Akash Deep.
Meanwhile, at Gujarat Titans (GT), Kulwant Khejroliya replaced fellow uncapped left-arm seamer Prithvi Raj Yarra, who is out with injury. Khejroliya joined them for INR 30 lakh. He was with GT last season as well. He played one game and took 1 for 29 from three overs.
He has also played five games for RCB across 2018 and 2019, and two for KKR in 2023.
While KKR begin their campaign on March 29 against Mumbai Indians at Wankhede, GT will start off against Punjab Kings on March 31 at Mullanpur.
