•Kolkata Knight Riders face significant challenges ahead of the IPL season, including multiple player injuries and captaincy uncertainty.
•Key Indian pacers Harshit Rana and Akash Deep are out for IPL 2026, while Sri Lankan pacer Matheesha Pathirana is not fully fit, raising concerns about death bowling.
•Alternatives like Kartik Tyagi and Umran Malik are on the reserve bench but lack recent good form, posing a potential risk.
•Batting combination remains a major headache with questions over Ajinkya Rahane's role, Finn Allen/Tim Seifert's inclusion, and fitting in Cameron Green, Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, and Rovman Powell.
•Failure to quickly resolve these issues could lead to extensive experimentation during the league, jeopardizing KKR's season.
