And there is yet another IPL rumour, that has surfaced days before the IPL 2026 retention on November 15. It seems KKR, who would be desperate to make some major changes in their team after an 8th place finish in 2025, would most likely retain J&K pacer Umran Malik.
KKR to retain Umran Malik ahead of IPL Auction 2026?
The 25-year-old’s career has been marred by constant injuries in the last few years, and in fact missed the entire season this year, after being bagged by Kolkata, in IPL auction. In 2024 too, he played only one match, that only shows, that he his struggles with injury have been plenty.
But it seems that Umran Malik has finally regained some fitness ahead of the IPL 2026 retention, and even participated in J&K’s Ranji Trophy match against Rajasthan. There he did not return with any wicket, but his fitness is what the KKR management would be looking at, instead of form.
IPL Retention announcement on Nov. 15
Having said that, one cannot be certain if the pacer would feature in the plans for the team, even after suffering in the entire season. Instead they could be looking at pace options that could serve them for longer duration. Meanwhile, Umran has played 26 IPL matches till now and picked up 29 wickets.
His breakthrough year came in 2022 for SRH, where he went on to bag 22 wickets in 14 matches at an average of 20. Post that he was selected for the Indian team where he played 10 ODIs and picked up 13 wickets, and also featured in 8 T20Is and bagged 11 wickets.
