Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar advised the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to ring in the changes and look past Cameron Green until he starts bowling for the franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season. The three-time champions faced a second consecutive defeat in the 19th edition of the tournament on Thursday after losing to Sunrisers Hyderabad by 65 runs at the Eden Gardens. Just like the match against the Mumbai Indians, Green didn’t bowl in the second fixture as well. There has been a lot of hullabaloo about Green’s workload being managed by Cricket Australia despite the all-rounder being bought by the franchise for INR 25.20 crore.
After the loss against the Mumbai Indians, Rahane blamed Cricket Australia, saying one needs to ask them when Green will eventually bowl in the tournament. However, Cricket Australia shot back, saying Green’s workload is being managed due to a back injury, and he will start bowling in 10-12 days. Moreover, CA also said that KKR were well aware of the situation.
Ever since this tussle between CA and KKR, several former India players have spoken about how the IPL franchise was done dirty. Amid the rising chatter, Gavaskar did not have a harsh assessment; however, he did tell KKR to bring in someone else and make Green warm the bench unless he starts bowling.
Green has not set the stage on fire with the bat as well, returning with scores of 18 and 2 in the opening two matches.
“KKR will need to think about their combination if Cameron Green is not going to bowl. If he isn’t contributing with the ball, then they might have to consider bringing in another specialist batter. We know he has scored a hundred in the IPL and that he can bat well, but his form hasn’t been great recently,” said Gavaskar on Star Sports’ ‘Amul Cricket Live’.
“Yes, he scored a hundred in a red-ball game in Australia not long ago, but this is where the team needs to look closely at the numbers. Green at No. 4 is fine, but the bigger concern seems to be the No. 5 and No. 6 positions, where they appear to be struggling a bit,” he added.
How the KKR-SRH match unfolded?
In the match against SRH, KKR won the toss and opted to bowl. The Hyderabad-based franchise posted 226/8 in the allotted twenty overs. Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma and Heinrich Klaasen all got among the runs.
KKR were then bundled out for 161, as Jaydev Unadkat scalped three wickets. Eshan Malinga and Nitish Kumar Reddy also picked up two wickets each. SRH will next take on the Lucknow Super Giants while KKR will square off against Punjab Kings.
