Kolkata Knight Riders remain winless in IPL 2026 with their latest loss coming against Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Tuesday. Former India opener Virender Sehwag said they have to admit their mistake of spending Rs 25.20 crore to sign Cameron Green at the auction.
The Australian allrounder was dismissed for a duck in the match against CSK, and in five matches so far, he has managed just 56 runs and one wicket, having not bowled in the first three matches.
During the auction in December last year, Green became the most expensive overseas buy in IPL history when KKR spent nearly one-third of their purse to secure the player for Rs 25.20 crore.
Speaking during a panel discussion on Cricbuzz, Sehwag said there is “no shame in accepting” that Green was a bad mistake and KKR should take a bold call by dropping him for the next match, which is against the Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad on Friday.
“If you had that much money and still bought these players, spending Rs 25-27 crore on Cameron Green, then now he has become a liability. If you play him, he is not performing. If you don’t play him, people will question why you spent so much money and then benched him. But there is no shame in accepting a mistake. Just admit it, that you made a mistake by spending so much on Cameron Green. Drop him and try someone else. His bowling is not contributing much either, and it’s not like his presence is making the team combination look great because of both his batting and bowling,” he said.
Sehwag suggested that KKR could consider replacing Green with Tim Siefert, who could open the innings with Finn Allen while skipper Ajinkya Rahane drops to No. 3.
“So I feel you should bench him and play Tim Seifert instead. Recently, you saw him perform well for New Zealand. Those same two openers played aggressive innings. Bring both of them in and let them open. Then bring Ajinkya Rahane at number three, Powell at four, and push Raghuvanshi further down. That way, if Rahane gets out, Raghuvanshi can come in, and if someone else gets out, then Powell or Rinku can come in,” he added.
