With IPL 2026 barely a week away, Ravichandran Ashwin, never one to shy away from a strong opinion has fired a salvo that cuts to the heart of one of the tournament’s most debated pre-season questions: what exactly did Kolkata Knight Riders buy when they spent ₹25.20 crore on Cameron Green?
Speaking on his YouTube channel Ash Ki Baat, the recently retired off-spinner laid out the problem with characteristic bluntness. KKR acquired Green as an all-rounder someone expected to bat in the top order and bowl all four of his overs every game. But there is a very real possibility that Cricket Australia, mindful of the tall right-armer’s back injury history and his upcoming international obligations, may impose workload restrictions on him during the IPL. If that happens, the franchise could find itself paying IPL history’s most expensive overseas salary for a player who cannot fully deliver on either front.
Ashwin’s proposed remedy was radical but logical: “IPL teams also should have an opportunity where if he bowls only two overs, then they should deduct ₹2 crores. Why not? If he is not able to deliver his four overs, then you should have the right to cut their money, right? When you came into the IPL auction, the expectation was that you would bowl all four overs, and also bat. If there is no restriction on bowling, then great, but if there is restriction, the team should be allowed to cut from the contract money. This is my simple and humble opinion.”
He put the numbers in vivid human terms: “Imagine if you are Shah Rukh Khan, and you have paid ₹25 crores for a player. But then he comes and says, ‘Sir, I will bowl only one over today, or bowl only 10 balls a day.’ How will you feel?”
The concern is not theoretical. Green’s recent record with the ball is slim. In the T20 World Cup 2026, he bowled just three overs across two games. In the Pakistan T20I series before that, he managed four overs across two matches. During the Ashes in 2025-26, he took only four wickets from 61.5 overs. And in his most recent Sheffield Shield appearance for New South Wales, he did not bowl a single delivery across either innings, despite scoring a century. The picture is of a player being carefully managed which may continue to be the case well into the IPL.
On the batting front, Ashwin also weighed in on KKR’s structural dilemma with Green in the squad. With Ajinkya Rahane captaining and likely opening alongside Finn Allen, and Cameron Green capable of batting in the top three, the fate of Rinku Singh’s batting position in the order has become a pressing concern. Ashwin urged KKR to do right by one of their most loyal servants: “If I were KKR, I would be saying Rinku Singh at No.4. If two wickets fall in the powerplay, then you can always push Green inside the powerplay. But post the six-over mark, Rinku Singh should be given such a chance where he can play for 4-5 overs, and then take on the bowlers.”
Ashwin was emphatic that IPL 2026 needs to be the season where Rinku is given volume and responsibility, not just cameo opportunities. “It has to be a season where Rinku Singh has to do more volume of runs than in the past. KKR have resources to surprise teams even when they are not at their best,” he said. Rinku himself had a difficult IPL 2025, batting as low as No. 7 and No. 8 on multiple occasions and managing only 206 runs in 13 innings a far cry from his breakthrough 2023 season when he made 474 runs and became famous for his five-sixes-off-five-balls heist.
The KKR pace department meanwhile continues to look stretched, with Harshit Rana and Akash Deep both confirmed out for the entire tournament and Matheesha Pathirana only expected to be match-fit by mid-April at the earliest. Ashwin, surveying the bowling options available, was characteristically candid: “KKR’s bowling no longer carries the fear factor it once did.”
For KKR and their owner Shah Rukh Khan, the opening game against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on March 29 will reveal quickly whether the rebuilding effort has produced something genuinely competitive or whether the injury list has already dictated too much.
