Published on: Mar 18, 2026 4:54 pm IST|Updated on: Mar 18, 2026 4:58 pm IST
IPL 2026 is on the horizon, and all 10 teams have already begun their preparations. Players are already sweating it out for a 2-month-long season, which will be quite demanding in the excessive heat of April-May. As we know, all teams have already finalized their squads during the IPL 2026 auctions held on December 16 in Abu Dhabi; it is often a tiring process when franchises have to make some tweaks to their squads at the very last moment due to injuries or the unavailability of overseas players. In this article, we have compiled a list of players who will not be available from the very first day of the season, i.e., March 28.
Kolkata Knight Riders’ rising pace bowler Harshit Rana is set to miss the majority of IPL 2026. The youngster who was set to lead the team’s pace attack is suffering from a knee injury and was seen limping on crutches during the BCCI Naman Awards 2026. His injury seems to be quite serious, and it may take quite a long time for him to recover and join the 3-time IPL champions this season.
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Rana already missed the T20 World Cup 2026 due to the same injury that he sustained while bowling in a warm-up game against South Africa ahead of the tournament. In case Rana is ruled out of the entire season, KKR do have other Indian pacers at their disposal, but none as experienced as Harshit at the international level. Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi, Akashdeep, and Umran Malik are the other Indian pacers KKR have in their arsenal, on whom they would have to rely if Harshit misses the entire tournament.
The Sunrisers Hyderabad are set to miss their skipper, Pat Cummins, due to a lumbar stress injury in his lower back. Pat sustained this injury during the Test series against the West Indies last year. Since the injury, the Aussie Test and ODI skipper has played only one Test match during the Ashes 2025-26 and hasn’t played a single domestic game.
There is no confirmed date on when Pat will be available for the Tata IPL 2026, as his participation will depend on when he gets clearance from rehab. A source told the Hindustan Times,
“The clearance is still awaited from the physios. The rehab is going on. Pat Cummins won’t be able to make it in time for the opening few matches. However, he is expected to play some part in the tournament later on. It all depends on the clearance. As soon as it comes in, they will travel to India.”
With Pat Cummins unavailable, Abhishek Sharma has emerged as a strong contender to lead the Sunrisers. Meanwhile, the team management is awaiting clearance from Cummins’ rehabilitation and has decided not to rush into naming an official replacement at this stage, with Englishman Brydon Carse most probably getting games till the time Cummins returns.
Another Aussie whose participation in the initial stages of the Tata IPL 2026 remains a question mark is pacer Josh Hazlewood. The 36-year-old played an instrumental role last season to help Royal Challengers Bengaluru end their trophy drought of 18 long years. He ended the season with 22 wickets in 12 matches and was the one who often turned the tide in his team’s favor.
Josh Hazlewood has been sidelined from competitive cricket since before the Australian summer began. He initially suffered a right hamstring injury while playing for New South Wales in November, ruling him out of the Ashes opener in Perth. During his recovery, Hazlewood picked up a fresh Achilles injury, which forced him to miss the remainder of the Ashes series as well as the T20 World Cup.
In the auctions this year. RCB went for New Zealand’s Jacob Duffy and already have Sri Lanka’s Nuwan Thushara as their other pace-bowling option among the overseas contingent. With Hazlewood set to miss the initial stage of the tournament, Duffy and Thushara will be in line to pip each other for a spot in the eleven and partner RCB’s bowling attack leader Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
The Kolkata Knight Riders are in serious trouble. With Harshit Rana almost ruled out of the entire season, the team is now facing a major pace bowling crisis with their most expensive overseas pacer, Matheesha Pathirana, declared unfit for the initial stage of the tournament. Pathirana suffered a calf strain during the game against Australia in the Super 8s stage of the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2026. He limped off the ground after bowling 7 deliveries and was subsequently ruled out of the tournament.
The latest update is that he would not be available at the start but could get ready at some point in IPL 2026. KKR had spent Rs 18 crore on Pathirana in the IPL 2026 auction. Interestingly, the Knight Riders have not yet decided to sign a replacement for Pathirana, as they have already signed Zimbabwe’s premier pacer Blessing Muzarabani as a replacement for Mustafizur Rahman, who had to be released on the instructions of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) after what transpired in Bangladesh over Hindus. With Rana and Pathirana both set to miss a majority of the tournament, KKR will have to use their available pace-bowling resources wisely.
Tags: IPL 2026