Former India cricketer Manoj Tiwary implied that not all is well at the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) as they still search for their first win in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season. The three-time champions are placed at the bottom of the points table, and are set to face the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Tuesday, April 14.

KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane has had the roughest of starts to the campaign as he has had to battle with an injury crisis, poor performances, and criticism surrounding his own displays. The franchise were seemingly on the cusp of ending their losing run, but were undone by youngster Mukul Choudhary’s heroics in the home clash against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).

Manoj Tiwary stated that KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane’s recent comments to the media, which include a blunt response regarding Cameron Green’s bowling availability, suggest that there is major unrest behind the scenes.

“The bowlers had not executed properly against LSG. I was very disappointed with the way Cameron Green was bowling his overs. There is a lot of responsibility on Cameron Green, they have invested so much in him, taken him at a high value. It was expected that he would come in and bowl fast at 140 kmph, and trouble the batters. But he was hardly effective,” Manoj Tiwary said on Cricbuzz.

“It was also reflected in the captain’s statement, when he said earlier to ask Cricket Australia. When such things happen, it indicates that the team atmosphere is not right, it’s visible on the ground in the form of performance,” he added.

After being unavailable as a bowling option in KKR’s initial matches of the season, Cameron Green bowled two overs against LSG. The Australian all-rounder dismissed opposition captain Rishabh Pant off just his second delivery, but conceded 28 runs overall, including three boundaries in the crucial penultimate over.

“What is the need to play him just on the basis of name or reputation?” – Manoj Tiwary urges KKR to drop Cameron Green from playing XI for IPL 2026 match against CSK

Cameron Green has had a IPL 2026 campaign to forget so far. Coming into the tournament with shaky form and immense price tag pressure, the marquee signing scored only 24 runs in his first three innings of the season. Although he scored an unbeaten 32 against LSG, it was far from a convincing outing.

Manoj Tiwary feels that the prospects on the KKR bench deserve a chance over Cameron Green at this stage now.

“You have to fix the combination now. Cameron Green is not batting in the same flow that we saw when he used to play for Australia when he had just come in. Except for one or two IPL innings, that kind of rhythm is not there to be seen. It is better that you give a chance to the new Indian batters who are not getting a chance like Rinku Singh or Ramandeep SIngh, or some other emerging batter,” Manoj Tiwary said.

“What is the need to play him just on the basis of name or reputation? Just because you are paying him 24 crores, it is not necessary that he needs to be played in all of the games,” he added.

Cameron Green has a shaky record at the Chepauk, scoring 65 runs in three matches at an average of 21.67 and a strike rate of 132.65.