Pacer Umran Malik has reportedly linked up with the Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of their match against Punjab Kings on April 26. The bowler, who was bought for Rs 75 lakhs by the defending champions, had been ruled out of the tournament earlier in March. Spinner Chetan Sakariya was named as his replacement.
Will Umran Malik play for KKR in IPL 2025?
As per RevSportz, Malik has joined the rest of the team ahead of the PBKS clash in Kolkata. The injury-prone pacer had missed the first half of the season due to an unspecified injury. With KKR naming Sakariya as his replacement, it remains to be seen how the team will accommodate Malik in their squad.
Malik was bagged by KKR for Rs 75 lakhs in the IPL 2025 mega auction after he was released by SRH. After shooting to fame in his limited appearances in the IPL, he has done very little to keep himself out of injury. Ever since making his IPL debut in 2021, he has played only 26 matches. To make matters worse, he has never played a full IPL season barring 2022. His last international game came in 2023 following which he has stayed out of the picture.
In November, Malik had claimed that he was 200% fit and was rearing to go for KKR. However, he his comeback was delayed as he did not get a clearance from the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (CoE).
KKR squad for IPL 2025
Quinton de Kock(w), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Rinku Singh, Venkatesh Iyer, Moeen Ali, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Manish Pandey, Anukul Roy, Luvnith Sisodia, Rovman Powell, Anrich Nortje, Mayank Markande, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Chetan Sakariya, Spencer Johnson
