IPL 2026: Who is Saurabh Dubey? 28-year-old from Vidarbha replaces Akash Deep at KKR with little domestic experience

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Sunday announced the signing of pacer Saurabh Dubey, who has replaced the injured Akash Deep ahead of IPL 2026. Akash Deep was ruled out of the upcoming IPL season due to a lower-back stress injury.

His injury meant that KKR's pre-season preparations went from bad to worse as far as their pace bowling attack is concerned.

Star pacer Harshit Rana will miss IPL 2026 due to a knee injury, whereas Matheesha Pathirana will be available only from the middle of April.

The Sri Lanka speedster is recovering from a calf injury he sustained during the T20 World Cup in February. We now take a look into who is Saurabh Dubey.

He made his List A debut in the 2019 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup tournament, for the India Emerging Team against their Nepal counterparts.

He won Player of the Match award after claiming figures of 4/26 to see off Nepal for 193 in the 50-over tournament. India Emerging Team won that match by seven wickets. He finished the tournament as India's highest wicket-taker with seven wickets from three matches.

He has also played three T20s, all of them being in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, but he hasn't taken a wicket yet in the format.

Dubey had gone unsold at the IPL 2026 mini-auction in Abu Dhabi last year. He had a base price ₹30 lakh. The 28-year-old was player No. 1215 in the Registered Available Player Pool (RAPP). For players to be eligible as replacements, they have to be a part of RAPP.

In 2022, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) had signed Saurabh Dubey, but an injury meant that his stint with SRH ended abruptly. He is yet to make his IPL debut.

Saurabh Dubey last played List A cricket for Vidarbha in the 2020-21 season, whereas his last T20 came in 2023 during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match against Bengal.

"He is a very talented left-arm fast bowler. I remember him touring Bangladesh under Rahul Dravid as part of the 2019 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup squad. He gets extra bounce off the wicket and can swing the ball both ways. It's a good call by the Knight Riders management," Subroto Banerjee, Saurabh's mentor, told Cricbuzz. Subroto was also a national selector recently and his term ended in 2025.

Kolkata Knight Riders will begin their IPL 2026 campaign with a match against Mumbai Indians (MI) on 29 March.