Former Indian batter Suresh Raina believes Harshit Rana’s injury is a big blow to the Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of IPL 2026. Rana is reportedly ruled out of the upcoming season because of a knee injury. The fast bowler from Delhi was all set to be part of India’s T20 World Cup squad but was ruled out with an injury.

Mohammed Siraj eventually replaced Rana in the T20I showpiece, which India won comprehensively after beating New Zealand by 96 runs in the summit clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.

Meanwhile, Rana had scalped 19 wickets in 12 matches of IPL 2024 and had played an instrumental role in taking his franchise to glory. Furthermore, Matheesha Pathirana is also currently injured.

“Pathirana is injured, Harshit Rana is injured. I think his injury is the bigger blow, Harshit Rana’s, because he might not be available for the entire IPL. It will take a while as he has to do his rehab and everything. I think KKR have Kartik Tyagi. Matheesha Pathirana will have to play, and then there is Cameron Green as well,” Suresh Raina said on Star Sports.

“You can go with Vaibhav Arora as well, and then there are two quality spinners as well, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy. Ramandeep Singh is also thereabouts in there, but if Pathirana is fit, their death overs are sorted, as well as one over at the top,” he added.

KKR recently replaced Bangladesh’s pacer Mustafizur Rahman with Zimbabwe’s lanky fast bowler Blessing Muzarabani.

Raina said head coach Abhishek Nayar is troubled because of KKR’s injury woes ahead of the season.

“Ajinkya Rahane is a very good captain, he had led the team very well last season. There should not be any more injuries, and I think that is why Abhishek Nayar is so troubled,” Raina said.

Kolkata Knight Riders will begin their IPL 2026 campaign against the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on 29th March.