Harshit Rana to Miss IPL 2026 Season Due to Knee Surgery
Harshit Rana's Injury Update
New Delhi, March 17: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) fast bowler Harshit Rana is expected to be sidelined for a significant portion of the upcoming IPL 2026 season following knee surgery he underwent in February, as reported by a sports news outlet.
The right-arm pacer sustained a knee strain during a warm-up match against South Africa ahead of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup and is currently in rehabilitation. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has not provided any updates regarding his potential return.
Rana, who recently received the Best International Debutant award at the BCCI Naman Awards 2026, suffered a ligament injury in his right knee after bowling just one over in the warm-up match. He was subsequently replaced in the tournament by Mohammed Siraj, who participated in only one game against the USA.
KKR will also be without Bangladesh's Mustafizur Rahman, as the BCCI directed the team to release him due to strained diplomatic relations between India and Bangladesh during December and January.
To fill Mustafizur's spot, KKR has signed Zimbabwean Blessing Muzarabani, who recently terminated his contract with Islamabad United in the Pakistan Super League.
As of now, neither KKR nor the IPL has officially confirmed Harshit Rana's absence for a significant part of the 2026 season.
The three-time IPL champions are set to kick off their 2026 campaign against the five-time champions, Mumbai Indians, at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The IPL has released the schedule for the first two weeks of the tournament, which will take place from March 28 to April 12.
Kolkata Knight Riders' squad for IPL 2026 includes: Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, Cameron Green, Finn Allen, Matheesha Pathirana, Tejasvi Singh, Kartik Tyagi, Prashant Solanki, Rahul Tripathi, Tim Seifert, Sarthak Ranjan, Daksh Kamra, Rachin Ravindra, Akash Deep, and Blessing Muzarabani.