He will miss the season due to a back injury.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) fast bowler Umran Malik, who was picked up by the franchise for INR 75 lakhs at the Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) auction has now been ruled out for the season due to a back injury. The news was confirmed on the IPL website via an official release.
In the absence of the J&K cricketer, the defending champions have now added newly recruited net bowler Chetan Sakariya to the squad.
While most players had joined the KKR pre-season camp, Malik was awaiting clearance from the National Cricket Academy (NCA). He underwent scans for his back injury a fortnight ago and the reports returned satisfactory, as per NCA sources. However, it now seems that he didn’t get the go-ahead from the NCA to take part in IPL 2025.
After rising to fame with his express pace in the IPL, Umran has struggled with injuries, limiting his appearances. Since his 2021 debut, the right-arm fast bowler has played only 26 matches and completed just one full season in 2022. His last international game was in 2023 and has since faded from the spotlight.
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The 27-year-old left-arm pacer joins KKR for the same price as Umran. Notably, it will be a homecoming for Sakariya as he was previously picked up by the three-time winners for IPL 2024 but did not get to feature in any match.
Sakariya will hope to make the most of this new lease after facing a demotion in his career trajectory.
He had a tremendous year in 2021 where he was part of Saurashtra’s Ranji Trophy-winning squad and made an impressive IPL debut with Rajasthan Royals (RR), taking 14 wickets in 14 matches, including a best spell of 3/31. His performances also earned him a spot on the national team for the Sri Lanka tour.
However, after being picked by Delhi Capitals the following season, a dip in form limited him to just five matches over two years.
Speaking about Sakariya’s credentials, he has played 19 IPL games so far with 20 wickets to his name. Apart from that, he has also represented India in one ODI and two T20Is.
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