He Riders of the Knights of Calcutta (KKR) made clear their intentions for a mini-review with their holds and releases before the IPL 2026 auction next month. The three-time champions let go as many as nine players, leaving them with a purse of Rs 64.30 crore, the highest in the league.
KKR also released six foreign cricketers, leaving them plenty to do in the auction, as they look to bounce back from a tumultuous IPL 2025 season. After their sensational title run last year, the franchise suffered a massive slump in their title defence, finishing eighth in the points table.
Given the huge amount of money going into the bidding war, most experts and fans have already come to the conclusion that the Australian all-rounder Cameron Green It will be from KKR in a month. After missing IPL 2025 due to injury, the 26-year-old has made an excellent return in the shortest format for Australia.
Green averaged 43 with a strike rate of over 168 in five T20Is this year, while also resuming his bowling duties in the ongoing first Ashes Test.
However, while all signs point to a KKR-Green partnership, here are three key reasons why the franchise should not sign the Australian all-rounder in the IPL 2026 auction.
#1 Green unlikely to fix KKR’s biggest Achilles heel from last season
As attractive as a Cameron Green option may be as a one-off package, its suitability for what KKR desperately needs is questionable. Even with a probable random in Sunil Narine, the team boasts a potentially impressive top-order for IPL 2026 with Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi alongside him.
It was KKR’s middle and lower-middle order that left them for dead last season, with Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, andres russeland Ramandeep Singh struggling to make an impact.
While Rinku averaged 29.42, Venkatesh and Russell averaged less than 21, as KKR struggled to conquer the post-powerplay phases. Green, meanwhile, has enjoyed most of his T20 success at the top of the order, a place KKR seemingly have the least to worry about.
In his previous 28 innings in the IPL, the Australian right-hander has batted in the first three halves of those times. Green has batted at Nos. 6 and 7 for a combined six innings, scoring 28 runs at a disappointing strike rate of 127.
Even for Australia, he has struggled in both positions in his three T20I innings with an average of 14 and a strike rate of 90.32.
Therefore, Green may not be the ideal solution to KKR’s final woes from last season.
#2 KKR cannot fall into the ‘All eggs in one basket’ trap again
Most of the talk after the IPL 2025 auction was that KKR would go for all-round batting. Venkatesh Iyer for a whopping 23.75 million rupees. While the acquisition of a relatively proven middle-order batsman and all-rounder looked valuable on paper, it left the franchise with many other holes to paper over.
The huge price tag also apparently put an unfair weight of expectations on Iyer, and the result was a dismal IPL 2025 season with just 142 runs in 14 games. Needless to say, Cameron Green will almost certainly be the hottest commodity at the upcoming auction.
The security of boasting the highest purse could prompt KKR to hype up yet again for another all-rounder, this time Green. Let’s not forget, franchising also has the most spaces to fill, overall and abroad, and spreading the wealth remains paramount.
If KKR can learn anything from the 2025 IPL, it is what they did before the season in the auction and its potential ripple effect throughout the season with the acquisition of Venkatesh Iyer.
#3 KKR’s overseas enigma makes Cameron Green expendable
KKR’s overseas pitches of the last two years have left them in desperate need of one for three positions, the least suitable for Cameron Green’s forte. The franchise released its two foreign goalkeepers, Quinton de Kock and Rahmanullah Gurbaz, ahead of the upcoming auction.
Without a bona fide Indian glove available, KKR will almost certainly have to go for a foreign option in the auction. Furthermore, the release of Andre Russell also forces them to look for a similar option abroad, namely Glenn Maxwell or Liam Livingstone.
While Rovman Powell is capable of playing the role, KKR could look for a safer starting option overseas who also offers bowling at the position. Finally, with the calamitous Mitchell Starc release last year, along with the recent releases of Anrich Nortje and Spencer Johnson, the 2024 champions absolutely need a proven foreign pacer, given the limited Indian internationals available for the same in the auction.
Given that Sunil Narine is a sure starter and each of the above three positions will almost certainly have to be filled by foreign cricketers with pedigree, Cameron Green’s package as one of the four foreign starters may be expendable.
Get real-time updates on IPL 2025live scores, IPL Prediction, match schedule, points table,Result and equipment –CSK, MY, RCB, kkr, SSR, LSG, DC, G.T., PBKS
Edited by Venkatesh Ravichandran.
