Kevin Pietersen offers his two cents on the Cameron Green situation that has rocked IPL after Ajinkya Rahane skepticism

Very expensive purchase Cameron Green didn't bowl in KKR's defeat by MI, and it has created a storm in the Indian Premier League (IPL) since.

Updated on: Mar 30, 2026, 13:21:42 IST

Written by Prateek Srivastava

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The Indian Premier League (IPL) match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians on Sunday night has given rise to a storm that's refusing to die down. Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen, who is doing a commentary stint with the league after leaving his mentor's role at Delhi Capitals earlier this month, has now joined the discussion and has offered his two cents on the matter.

Kevin Pietersen makes a lot of sense. (Vipin Kumar)

In KKR's defeat that saw MI chase down 221 rather comfortably, their all-rounder Cameron Green, who was purchased for a whopping ₹25.2 crore at the auction, didn't bowl at all, and with the bat, he didn't make much contribution either, just 18 runs off 10 balls. At the post-match presentation, KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane was asked why Green didn't bowl and he replied, "Ask Cricket Australia."

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Cricket Australia (CA) didn't take long to hit back after Rahane's hint that they might be to blame. They explained the allrounder was suffering from a lower back injury, picked up at the T20 World Cup, and that KKR had been informed about the situation. "Cameron has a lower back injury, which is being managed but requires him to abstain from bowling for a short period," a CA spokesperson said.

"Cameron is currently rebuilding his bowling loads in India with a view to returning in around 10-12 days' time.

"KKR has been communicated with and is fully aware of this information," the spokesperson added.

The gist of what Pietersen said is that if the KKR knew about the whole thing, then Cricket Australia and the player should not be blamed. However, if the franchise was taken aback in the matter, their frustration with Green not bowling as per the contract is totally understandable.

"If KKR knew Green wasn’t allowed to bowl and paid that price for a batter, then it’s ok. That’s their call.

“If they bought an allrounder and now he’s not allowed to bowl, that’s NOT ok!" Pietersen wrote on X on Monday.

Going forward, until he can bowl, Green will have to perform well with the bat, because that’s the only way he can keep his critics quiet. In the coming days, there will be more scrutiny on him. But then that’s the price he has to pay. Every player that has had a big price tag in the IPL invariably goes through this. He is not the first, he won’t be the last.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Prateek Srivastava
Prateek Srivastava is a senior sports journalist having been in the profession for two decades now. He started his print career with the India Today Group and later also worked for the Asian Age. In 2009, sensing the wind of change, he switched to the digital media and joined Mobile ESPN. There, he covered the 2011 Cricket World Cup and 2010 Hockey World Cup as a venue reporter. He did plenty of voice-over work too, over there. After leaving Mobile ESPN, Prateek went on to work for Cricketnext, Gocricket and Cricbuzz. At Gocricket (Times Internet Limited), he covered the 2014 T20 World from Bangladesh. There he also received a team leadership award, given at the end of the month. Prateek has also covered the 2016 T20 World Cup in India, this time working for Sportz Interactive. He also worked for Chinese giants Alibaba over two years and led their ""Short News"" content team at UC Browser. While cricket is Prateek’s expertise, he has also done a lot of golf. In fact, he has covered India’s first two European Tour events back in the late noughties. He has also done extensive writing on football having been associated with the Indian Super League for three seasons. Finally, Prateek is a literature aficionado and swears by Philip Roth and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and when he doesn’t joke, he is usually quiet and at work.Read More

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