Former England batter Kevin Pietersen has expressed his concerns over Cameron Green’s role in the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) setup after yet another lacklustre performance with the bat. This comes after the Australian international scored just four runs off two balls against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in a rain-washed game.
KKR paid big bucks to secure the services of Green in the mini auction, paying INR 25.20 crore. The 26-year-old, however, has had an underwhelming start to his time in The City of Joy, having scored just 24 runs from the opening three matches. To go along with his poor batting, Green has not bowled in the 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL) yet as he continues to recover from a side strain.
Pietersen stated that he does not care about the money a player receives in an auction, as it is not on them that they were involved in a bidding war. However, he does question Green’s role as a designated number three in the KKR side. The 45-year-old believes that the Australian has not shown enough in his T20 cricket to warrant a place so high up in the order. With him not bowling currently, his role in the side is up for debate.
“I’m against talking about the money because the money is something that just happens. These guys don’t earn as much money as some of the other sportsmen around the world. But obviously, a lot of people like to talk about what I like to talk about, which is cricketing ability. And whether or not you’re good enough to be in a position of power and batting a 3 in an IPL team, you have to be good enough to be able to perform at that level,” Pietersen said on JioHotstar.
“And I don’t think that he’s good enough to bat at number 3. He’s not bowling, so you have a look at what he has done. Yes, I’ve seen his, he got a 100 in Mumbai a couple of years ago. I’ve not seen enough of Cam Green to warrant batting a 3 here and taking on that responsibility. He’s a middle-order batter who bowls a bit, and that’s what he does,” he added.
Green has previously shown his all-round prowess in the IPL for both the Mumbai Indians in 2023 and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru a year later. In Mumbai, he scored 452 at an average of 50 whilst taking six wickets.
Meanwhile, for RCB, he scored 255 runs from 13 innings and went on to take 10 wickets at an economy of 8.61, which is excellent for a fifth bowler.
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Green has huge shoes to fill in the KKR setup, with the management seeing him as a potential long-term replacement for the now-retired Andre Russell.
