know Saurabh Dubey, who replaced Varun Chakaravarthy for key clash vs RCB

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) is playing against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in their ongoing IPL 2026 clash in Raipur on Wednesday, May 13. However, KKR are coming with a big setback, as star spinner Varun Chakaravarthy is not participating in the game due to a niggle.

It was believed that KKR would bring another spinner to fill the void created by Chakaravarthy's injury, but instead, the franchise opted to include left-arm pacer Saurabh Dubey in the playing XI.

Coming back to the game, after facing a delay due to the outfield, RCB won the toss and elected to bowl first against KKR. Interestingly, KKR have included Saurabh Dubey in the Impact Subs options, it would be exciting to see if he gets a chance to display his skills in the second innings.

Also Read: IPL 2026: RCB elect to bowl vs KKR, Shepherd dropped; 'Varun Chakravarthy' suspense ends; Know playing XI

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Meet Saurabh Dubey?

Saurabh Dubey is a left-arm medium pacer who plays for Vidarbha in domestic cricket. The 28-year-old pacer has played eight List A matches, where he has managed to clinch 16 wickets at an economy rate of 5.79 with a strike rate of 24.1.

The left-arm pacer has played only three matches in the T20 format, with no wickets to his name so far.

Interestingly, Dube was a member of India's squad for the 2019 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup in Bangladesh. He had an impressive debut against Nepal, with figures of 4 for 26 in India's seven wicket win and was awarded with the Player of the Match. From three innings, Dubey managed to take seven wickets.

How did he got chance in IPL 2026 for KKR?

He was signed by the Kolkata-based side in 2026 as an injury replacement for Akash Deep, who was ruled out of the tournament because of a lower-back stress injury.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Playing XI):

Jacob Bethell, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar(c), Jitesh Sharma(w), Tim David, Venkatesh Iyer, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rasikh Salam Dar, Jacob Duffy, Josh Hazlewood

Royal Challengers Bengaluru Impact subs: Devdutt Padikkal, Jordan Cox, Mangesh Yadav, Romario Shepherd, Swapnil Singh

Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI):

Ajinkya Rahane(c), Finn Allen, Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi(w), Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi

Kolkata Knight Riders Impact subs: Saurabh Dubey, Ramandeep Singh, Tejasvi Dahiya, Navdeep Saini, Tim Seifert