NEW DELHI: Three-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Wednesday named Indian pacer Navdeep Saini as a replacement for the injured Harshit Rana.Saini played 2 Tests, 8 ODIs and 11 T20Is for India.TimeofIndia.com was the first to report that Harshit has been ruled out for the season due to a knee injury he picked up ahead of the T20 World Cup.
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KKR CEO Venky Mysore Explains Cameron Green Buy – ‘We were getting close to the limit’ Later, Harshit Rana was seen on crutches at the BCCI Naman Awards.Rana, who suffered a ligament strain while injuring his right knee during the World T20 warm-up match against South Africa, is currently undergoing rehabilitation.Temper stopped after delivering just one in that game and was subsequently ruled out of the T20 World Cup after surgery. He was replaced by Mohammed Siraj, who played one match (against USA) during India’s title campaign.KKR are facing many fitness issues. Sri Lankan paceman Matheesha Pathirana has been nursing a calf strain during the T20 World Cup which was not initially expected to affect his IPL availability.KKR are also without left-arm seamer Mustafizur Rahman after the BCCI ordered them to release the Bangladeshi player amid strained geopolitical relations between India and Bangladesh earlier this year.The franchise has since signed Zimbabwe speedster Blessing Muzarabani as a replacement. Muzarabani has opted out of his Pakistan Super League stint with Islamabad United as he will join the team here on Tuesday.KKR’s other pace options include Vaibhav Arora, Saurabh Dubey (came in as a replacement for Akash Deep), Umran Malik, Kartik Tyagi and all-rounders Cameron Green and Ramandeep Singh.KKR will begin their campaign against Mumbai Indians in an away match on March 29 before hosting Sunrisers Hyderabad, Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants in the opening phase of the tournament.
