Kolkata Knight Riders caught attention in this season's IPL mini auction. They acquired Australian pacer-allrounder Cameron Green for ₹25.20 crore. Andre Russell had already ended his IPL career before the auction. He has taken on the role of power coach. So it was clear before the auction that KKR would go all out for Green as Russell's replacement. But is that the real reason? Or is there some batting order-related strategy behind it? KKR head coach Abhishek Nayar revealed the details.
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Abhishek explained how desperate KKR was to get Green at the auction. He said, 'We went all out for Green. There was only one goal – to get Green in the team. There was no need to save money. After Russell left, we needed someone to take the team forward. So we became desperate to get Green at any cost.
However, apart from being Russell's replacement, KKR bought Green mainly to strengthen the top order, as Abhishek Nayar revealed. Cricketers who play in the top order for Australia consistently score over 400 runs in the IPL. KKR team management hopes Green will maintain that trend. Not only that, they are interested in playing this Aussie allrounder at number three.
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Regarding this, Abhishek Nayar said, 'We are planning to bring Cameron Green at number three. He is such a cricketer who can even score 500 runs. He has this ability. He has crossed the 500-run mark in the IPL before. So Green can play an important role in the top order. In the last few years, whenever our top-order batsmen have scored over 400 runs, KKR has been successful. That's why we brought Green to the team.'
Now it remains to be seen how well this star cricketer can perform while handling the pressure of the price tag and expectations.
