Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have been dealt yet another blow ahead of the IPL 2026 season. According to Cricbuzz, fast-bowler Akash Deep will not take any part in the season due to an unspecified injury.
The report said Deep, who KKR picked at a base price of Rs. 1 crore in the IPL 2026 auction, didn’t report to their pre-season camp, which began in Kolkata on March 18. He is said to be in rehab at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru, but his recovery timeline also remains unclear.
“Unfortunately, he is out of the IPL, ruled out for the season," the website quoted a KKR official as saying.
Deep becomes the second experienced Indian quick after Harshit Rana to be ruled out of KKR’s season before it has even started. Rana suffered a knee injury in the pre-2026 T20 World Cup warm-up matches and had to undergo surgery. He was last seen in a clutch at the BCCI’s annual awards.
KKR coach Abhishek Nayar all but confirmed that Rana would miss the season in the team’s recent press conference. Additionally, Sri Lankan pacer Matheesha Pathirana, who signed for Rs. 18 crore in the auction, will also miss a part of the campaign and is unlikely to join the squad at least till mid-April.
Asked about the depleted bowling squad, mentor DJ Bravo had aserted that KKR had enough firepower to deal with it.
“In any tournament, once you lose your key bowlers, it’s not something you can plan for but have to accept. The good thing at the moment, especially about Indian cricket, is that there is a lot of depth. They have some guys that can definitely fill the spots. There’s Umran Malik, Kartik Tyagi, who have represented India at some point in time and played IPL before. They’re still young and exciting talents. So, I’m excited to work with this group of fast bowlers. We have the best spin duo in the competition. So, from a bowling point of view, we will be fine. Vaibhav (Arora) had a fantastic season last year and has been the leader of attack as well. We’ve lost some key players but we feel comfortable knowing that we have what it takes to replace those guys," he said.
