NEW DELHI: Three-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Wednesday named India pacer Navdeep Saini as a replacement for the injured Harshit Rana.Saini has played 2 Tests, 8 ODIs, and 11 T20Is for India.TimeofIndia.com was the first to report that Harshit has been ruled out of the season due to a knee injury that he had sustained ahead of the T20 World Cup.Later, Harshit Rana was seen on crutches at the BCCI Naman Awards.Rana, who sustained a ligament strain in his right knee injury during India’s T20 World Cup warm-up match against South Africa, is currently undergoing rehabilitation.The pacer had pulled up after delivering just one over in that game and was subsequently ruled out of the T20 World Cup following surgery. He was replaced by Mohammed Siraj, who played one match (against the USA) during India’s title-winning campaign.KKR are grappling with multiple fitness concerns. Sri Lanka pacer Matheesha Pathirana has been nursing a calf strain sustained during the T20 World Cup, which had initially not been expected to affect his IPL availability.KKR are also without left-arm seamer Mustafizur Rahman after the BCCI instructed it to release the Bangladeshi player amid strained geopolitical relations between India and Bangladesh earlier this year.The franchise has since signed Zimbabwe quick Blessing Muzarabani as a replacement. Muzarabani opted out of his Pakistan Super League stint with Islamabad United as he is set to join the squad here Tuesday.KKR’s other pace options include Vaibhav Arora, Saurabh Dubey (came as a replacement of 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 fixture on March 29, before hosting Sunrisers Hyderabad, Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants in the opening phase of the tournament.
