Why won't Harshit Rana play in the MI vs. KKR IPL 2026 match at Wankhede Stadium?

In an attempt to improve on their dismal 2025 campaign, the Kolkata Knight Riders play their first game of 2026 at Wankhede Stadium against the Mumbai Indians. Although injuries have hindered the Knight Riders, the 2024 champions are hoping for a successful start to the season thanks to a potent batting lineup.

Among the players KKR is lacking is Harshit Rana. Due to a knee injury he sustained in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup 2026, Indian pacer Harshit will not play in the Indian Premier League 2026.

Navdeep Saini, another Indian speedster, was confirmed by KKR a few days prior to the IPL's start as Harshit's replacement after he had surgery for his injury. The replacement was approved by the IPL body.Navdeep is a vital addition for the Knight Riders, having taken 23 wickets in 32 IPL games thus far. But since Akash Deep has also been eliminated from the competition, their bowling appears to be lacking. The speedster was sidelined for the season due to his inability to heal from a lower-back stress injury. Saurabh Dubey was chosen by KKR to take his place.

The captain of the Mumbai Indians chose to bowl first after winning the toss. Hardik decided to bowl because of the greenery on the pitch, he reasoned. "We're going to bowl. It's a nice track that seems greener than it was. See how it plays out. We want to play a good game, the crowd is behind us, and this is our stronghold. We have a mix of youth and experience, and we started a few weeks ago. There are plenty of captains, like Rohit and Surya; I'm just eager to perform. At the toss, Hardik declared, "We're going with six bowlers and five batters."

In the meantime, the captain of KKR also desired to bowl first. "We wanted to bowl, but we had never seen so much grass at Wankhede." There have been a few camps in Mumbai and Kolkata, and preparations have gone well. Recognize that MI is a winning team, and we are excited to play them. Don't dwell on the past; just live in the present. Due to a few injuries, we will have five bowlers and six batters. Four overseas players - Cameron Green, Finn Allen, and Blessing Muzarabani," Rahane said at the toss.

Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Varun Chakaravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, Blessing Muzarabani, Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Cameron Green, and Angkrish Raghuvanshi (w)

Sherfane Rutherford, Ryan Rickelton (w), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (c), Naman Dhir, Shardul Thakur, Mayank Markande, AM Ghazanfar,

Kolkata Knight Riders Rovman Powell, Kartik Tyagi, Saurabh Dubey, and Tejasvi Dahiya are some of the impact subs.

Suryakumar Yadav, Corbin Bosch, Robin Minz, Raj Bawa, and Ashwani Kum are the Mumbai Indians' Impact subs.