New Delhi: Kolkata Knight Riders made a surprise inclusion of the left-arm fast bowler in the team sheet Saurabh Dubey After star spinner Varun Chakraborty was ruled out of the crucial IPL 2026 match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Wednesday.Live Score: RCB vs KKR, IPL 202628-year-old, relatively unknown face IPL Circles, was included in KKR’s impact substitutions and skipper Ajinkya Rahane confirmed at the toss that Varun was unavailable due to a niggle.RCB won the toss and elected to field first in a must-win game for KKR as the visitors chased a late playoff push.
A surprising addition to Crunch ClashRahane said KKR had found a rhythm in recent games and kept their approach simple despite the pressure.“Varvin Chakraborty, unfortunately, has been ruled out with a niggling injury. He has been replaced by Saurabh Dubey,” Rahane said at the toss.Before the toss, Dubey was seen receiving congratulations from teammates, while Varun was seen limping during the warm-up, confirming concerns over his fitness.The move was unexpected as Varun has been central to KKR’s revival, but the franchise has now trusted a newcomer at a critical stage of the season.
Who is Saurabh Dubey?
Born in Wardha (Maharashtra), Dubey is a left-arm medium pacer who bats right-handed. He represents Vidarbha in domestic cricket and has quietly built a career in the domestic circuit.So far he has played in eight List A matches and three domestic T20Is. While he is yet to take a wicket in T20 cricket, he has taken 16 wickets in the 50-over format.His selection for such a high-pressure game is an important step in his career.SRH link before KKR opportunityDubey has previously been a part of the Sunrisers Hyderabad setup.He was bought at auction ahead of the 2022 season but never got a game during his tenure and was released ahead of the next campaign.KKR’s decision has now given them their long-awaited IPL debut.With KKR fighting to stay alive in the play-off race, Dubey’s debut comes under a lot of spotlight – an unheralded domestic fast bowler suddenly tasked with filling the void of one of the team’s most influential bowlers.RCB vs KKR Teams:Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Ajinkya Rahane (C), Finn Allen, Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (W), Ruman Powell, Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Vibhu Arora, Karthik TyagiKKR Impact Subs: Saurabh Dubey, Ramandeep Singh, Tejaswi Dahiya, Navdeep Saini, Tim SeifertRoyal Challengers Bengaluru (Playing XI): Jacob Bethel, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar (C), Jitesh Sharma (W), Tim David, Venkatesh Iyer, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rasheed Salam Dar, Jacob Duffy, Josh HazlewoodRCB Impact Subs: Devdutt Padikal, Jordan Cox, Mangesh Yadav, Romario Shepherd, Swapnal Singh
