Navdeep Saini replaces Harshit Rana at KKR; Kulwant Khejroliya in for Prithvi Raj Yarra at GT

"If I have to give this opportunity another name, I will call it revival," says Saini, who last played an IPL match in 2023

ESPNcricinfo staff

Published: Mar 25, 2026, 3:11 PM (3 hrs ago)

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have signed Navdeep Saini as a replacement for the injured Harshit Rana. He joins the squad for INR 75 lakh.

Saini has played two Tests, eight ODIs and 11 T20Is for India but has been out of the side since 2021. In the 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. His last IPL game was in 2023.

"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."

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KKR to replace injured Akash Deep with Saurabh Dubey

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.

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