A disappointing start doesn’t always lead to a poor finish. The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) still have time to turn it around after losing to Mumbai Indians (MI) in their IPL 2026 opener at the Wankhede last Sunday.
But first, the three-time champions need to show a little bit of prudence and judiciousness in terms of their team selection. And if they do so from Thursday’s Sunrisers Hyderabad clash at Eden Gardens, the better it would be.
Their hunt for an all-rounder made KKR go all out to rope in Cameron Green during the last auction. But given Green’s recent performances, it may benefit the Knight Riders if they are a little more flexible when it comes to his selection in the XI.
Yes, it’s still very early stages in the competition, and benching Green on the basis of his not-too-effective batting (18 off 10 balls) against MI, coming in at No. 3, may seem harsh.
Still, the Knights need to be careful about not being too rigid in their approach towards Green. It could well be detrimental to the Knights if Green is unable to perform and still gets regularly slotted as a sure-shot selection in the XI. Giving barely any chance to an explosive middle-order batter like Rovman Powell will amount to a good option going unutilised.
If the West Indies white-ball specialist is in the XI, it might as well strengthen the Knights’ batting and provide them with a potent finisher. Last year, too, Powell was largely under-utilised, featuring in only two matches and having just an innings to bat.
Of course, Green’s overall IPL numbers are superior to that of Powell. But at the Eden, Powell has had his share of success with the bat in the middle order, both in IPL and international cricket. Besides, all-rounder Green’s services with the ball will
not be available for a few more games, owing to restrictions imposed by Cricket Australia with regard to his workload management.
As a batter, before leaving for the IPL, Green did hit a 135 for Western Australia against New South Wales in a Sheffield Shield game mid-March. But prior to that, he had a hard time in the T20 World Cup on the slow Sri Lankan tracks, tallying only 24 in three innings.
Going by current form, Powell has better figures, aggregating 149 runs in the T20 World Cup at an average of 29.80 with his strike rate reading 147.52. In his last appearance at the Eden, Powell hit an unbeaten 19-ball 34 in an unbroken 76-run stand with Jason Holder to propel the Windies to 195/4 in their Super Eight clash versus India. The Windies, however, had lost that game.
The Knights also have the option of slotting Powell as their Impact Player, which means they will have to go in with three overseas players in their initial XI. To execute that, bringing in the seasoned Rahul Tripathi, who too has a decent knowledge of these conditions, in place of Green may not be a bad idea, at least till the Australian gets the nod to bowl.
Green, however, had a fairly long session with the bat at the Eden nets during KKR’s training on Tuesday, besides having a round of discussion with Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper and his Australia captain Pat Cummins on the sidelines of the practice session. Given the current condition of the Knights’ pace attack, which is quite inexperienced, and the nature of the Eden pitches, Green, perhaps, could have helped his team more with the ball.
But, when the current situation limits Green’s role to a specialist batter, the
Powell option is something the Knights shouldn’t just brush aside. The ball is
in KKR’s court. Will they be able to make a bold call? Or, will Green’s price tag (₹25.20 crore) put them in a dilemma?