The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) franchise find themselves in hot soup after it has been reported that ace pacer Harshit Rana is likely to miss either the entire IPL 2026 or the majority of the season after he underwent knee surgery recently.

Rana was part of the Indian T20 World Cup 2026 squad, but suffered a knee injury in their warm-up game against South Africa in Navi Mumbai. He bowled one over before being forced to leave the pitch due to pain. The BCCI merely stated that he was unfit to compete in the event, confirming his departure from the squad. Mohammed Siraj replaced Rana in the Indian T20 World Cup squad.

Now reports have stated that Harshit Rana is set to miss at least a portion of the Indian Premier League (2026) season. According to The Times of India, he needs extensive rehab time to recuperate from a catastrophic knee injury, which could last the entire IPL season.

“Rana’s surgery was performed by Dinshaw Pardiwalla at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital. He was advised to undergo surgical repair of the lateral meniscus. Following surgery and a period of rest, he will begin rehabilitation and report to the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru. While Rana has missed the T20 World Cup, he is also likely to be sidelined for a significant portion of the upcoming IPL, if not the entire tournament," sources said as per Times of India.

Rana has been one of the key bowlers for the KKR franchise, having risen to fame with 19 wickets in their IPL 2024 title win. He backed it up with a good, 15-wicket season last year, showing himself ready to lead the attack.

KKR will need to find two replacement pacers as they are already without Mustafizur Rahman, who they had to let go on the BCCI’s instructions.