Kolkata, March 24 (IANS) Three-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have named Rinku Singh as their vice-captain for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season.

Rinku Singh has been a key performer for KKR with his explosive batting and sharp fielding. The 28-year-old brings leadership experience from domestic circuits and previous IPL stints.

“On behalf of everyone in the franchise, we’re really delighted to announce that Rinku Singh will be the Vice-captain of the team. Rinku joined KKR in 2018 and has been a regular in the team ever since,” said Venky Mysore, CEO, Kolkata Knight Riders.

KKR, led by veteran India opener Ajinkya Rahane, will open their IPL 2026 campaign against five-time champions Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on March 29.

Their first home match will be against 2016 winners Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on April 2, before hosting Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants for clashes on April 6 and 9, respectively.

KKR are currently conducting trials on the sidelines of their pre-season camp to finalise replacements for injured pacers Harshit Rana. The likes of Navdeep Saini, Akash Madhwal, Simarjeet Singh, Sandeep Warrier, KM Asif, and Sunil Kumar have been attending the trials to fill the vacant spots in the KKR line-up.

Earlier, KKR replaced India pacer Akash Deep, who was ruled out of the competition due to a stress reaction in his lower back, with Vidarbha pacer Saurabh Dubey.

Dubey was signed by the 2016 champions Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) for IPL 2022, but his stint was cut short due to a back injury.

Dubey, 28, is yet to make his IPL debut and had gone unsold at the mini-auction in Abu Dhabi last year. But since he had registered for the auction, Dubey became a part of the Registered Available Player Pool (RAPP), from where any of the ten franchises can pick replacements for their injured players.

Dubey, who has played eight List A games and three T20 matches for Vidarbha, was a member of the India A team in the 2019 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup, where current India men’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak was the side’s head coach. Dubey had also been tracked by former India pacer Subroto Banerjee, whose term as a national selector ended last year.

–IANS

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