Kolkata Knight Riders expect to be without Harshit Rana for the bulk of IPL 2026 after the right-arm quick underwent surgery on a damaged knee ligament in February. The 22-year-old picked up the injury during India’s T20 World Cup warm-up match against South Africa, bowled a single over, and hasn’t played since.
A member of the BCCI medical staff confirmed this week that “no definitive return date has been set”, with Rana still in the early stages of rehab. If the recovery drags past May, it will be the second major tournament he misses on the trot, having sat out India’s triumphant World Cup run in the USA and West Indies.
“I’m ticking off small goals – bending the knee a little further each day, basic gym work – nothing fancy,” Rana said over a video call from Bengaluru. “The surgeons are happy, so I’m not rushing it.”
Knight Riders bowling coach Bharat Arun struck a similar note of patience. “We’d love him steaming in at the Wankhede, of course we would, but the lad’s health comes first,” Arun told reporters after a training session at Eden Gardens. “We’ll revisit things only when the BCCI physios give him the green light.”
Rana had been voted Best International Debutant at last Sunday’s BCCI awards, a reminder of how sharply his stock has risen since last summer. In his absence, Mohammed Siraj filled the spare pace berth at the World Cup, though he featured just once, against the USA.
KKR have other pace headaches. Left-armer Mustafizur Rahman has been released from the squad after what the franchise called “external directives” – an unhelpfully polite reference to the current political chill between India and Bangladesh. Zimbabwean seamer Blessing Muzarabani has come in as cover, giving up a late PSL stint to do so.
Matheesha Pathirana, still managing a calf strain that ended his World Cup, Vaibhav Arora, Akash Deep, Umran Malik and Kartik Tyagi form the rest of the seam cartel, while Cameron Green and Ramandeep Singh offer medium-pace back-up. The hope is Pathirana will be fit for the early away fixtures, although the medical staff are wary of pushing him too hard, too soon.
Knight Riders open their season on 29 March against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede, then return to Eden Gardens for evening games against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants. How they juggle an already-thin pace attack could shape their month.
“It’s a challenge, not a crisis,” Arun insisted. “IPL squads are designed for this exact scenario – you lose one, maybe two bowlers, and someone else gets a crack. It’s sport; we get on with it.”
