KKR Secretly Adds Ex-SRH Pacer For IPL 2025 Campaign

The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), in a massive development, just before the home fixture against the Punjab Kings, decided to add their express pacer, Umran Malik, to the side.

As per the official statement of the franchise, the fast bowler has joined the three-time champions to complete his rehab and will stay for the remainder of the 2025 season.

Umran Malik joins KKR for the remainder of IPL 2025

The recent reports from the side clarified that the Jammu and Kashmir pacer should continue rehab with the team and return to the game with the side for the rest of the season.

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However, because the franchise has already taken a replacement for the pacer, he can’t be an official playing member of the KKR squad. He will work with the team and the support staff to get back to his best.

It’s worth mentioning that the pacer had been at the National Cricket Academy for the last few seasons and was working with the head fast bowling coach, Troy Cooley, and other members to get back to his full fitness.

KKR bought the pacer in the IPL 2025 mega auction for a price of INR 75 lakh after the player’s exclusion from the Sunrisers Hyderabad, where he stayed for nearly three years.

However, injuries are testing his patience in the tournament. He could not play a single game before getting ruled out for the season. In his position, the franchise signed the left-arm pacer, Chetan Sakariya, for the last few games in the competition.

Umran Malik’s Contribution to IPL

The right-arm pacer played just one game in the last edition of the tournament, for figures of 0/15 in one over. In the season before that, he ended up featuring in eight encounters to grab five wickets at an average of 43.40 and an economy rate of nearly 11.

But his best season was in 2022 for the 2016 champions, when he made trouble for the batters, using his pace. He picked up 22 wickets in the tournament at an average of around 20 and an economy rate of 9.03, thanks to the best bowling figure of 5/15 in an inning.

KKR could have planned to use both Anrich Nortje and Malik, two of the fastest bowlers in the season, on fast tracks to create pressure on the batters. But it didn’t work for them as they lost one pacer, while the other featured in just one game and is recovering from the injury.

KKR struggles to find the right team combination in IPL 2025

For the Knight Riders, it’s the same story after a mega auction. A few of their retained players didn’t perform well. Venkatesh Iyer keeps on failing in the middle order, while Andre Russell hasn’t been able to contribute with the bat in crunch situations at the lower order.

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Ramandeep Singh, at eight, is of no use. KKR went for two overseas wicketkeepers in the side. Quinton de Kock, apart from the game against Rajasthan Royals, carried an average of below 10, while Rahmanullah Gurbaz has also failed.

In games where Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy failed to pick wickets in the middle overs, it becomes incredibly tough for the other bowlers to back up the performance.

They are currently in the seventh position and are in a do-or-die situation, requiring five wins in the last six group-stage encounters to claim their playoff spot. Their next game will be against the Punjab Kings at home on April 27, 2025.