Saurabh Dubey is making his IPL debut today for Kolkata Knight Riders against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, his first professional game in over 30 months.
Who is Saurabh Dubey, playing his maiden IPL game during KKR vs RCB?
The 28-year-old was called up by KKR as a replacement for the injured Akash Deep in 2026. It is his second stint in the IPL, having first been bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for INR 20 lakh in 2022. That season had been eventually cut short by a back injury, with Sushant Mishra replacing him. He has also been associated with Mumbai Indians as a net bowler, and eventually got his KKR call-up after impressing in the trials ahead of the ongoing season.
Match 57, Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Kolkata Knight Riders
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Venky Mysore, KKR's CEO, had spoken about the recruitment: "Head coach Abhishek Nayar has done a great job lining up the potential options and bringing them over so that the coaches can see, be part of our training and practice games. Definitely the one who has caught everyone's eyes is Saurabh Dubey, Vidarbha left-arm seamer, tall. The coaches were excited, called up and said, 'This is who we would like to take as Akash Deep's replacement.'"
The left-arm pacer made his professional debut in 2019 during the Emerging Teams Asia Cup. He ended as India’s highest wicket-taker in the tournament, picking up seven wickets from three games. Dubey made his debut for his state team in 2020, picking up nine wickets with best figures of 3-59, ending as Vidarbha’s leading wicket-taker that season. However, he has not played a List A game since.
His T20 debut came in 2023 in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, but he played three games without picking up a wicket. Dubey’s economy rate was 12.10, with the tournament also marking his last professional appearance in nearly two-and-a-half years.
Dubey’s most notable performance of late has come in the Vidarbha T20 League last year, where he grabbed five wickets with an economy rate of 8.23. The 6ft 5in seamer started his IPL debut with four successive dots to Jacob Bethell, eventually conceding one run, before being taken apart for 16 runs in his second.
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