Mixed fortunes for the Australians as the IPL action continued overnight
In need of an imposing knock to get his high profile IPL campaign up and running, luckless Cameron Green instead endured the rough end of a run-out mix-up as Kolkata Knight Riders slipped to a second straight defeat.
Yet as Green scored just two, his Australia teammate Travis Head began to look like his old rampant self as he teed off with a familiar opening blast for Sunrisers Hyderabad that sent them hurtling on their way to a handsome 65-run win at a downcast Eden Gardens on Thursday.
Allrounder Green, the most expensive overseas signing ever in the IPL at $A4.17 million, has quickly found himself the topic of feverish debate in India after scoring only 18 and not bowling in KKR’s opening defeat.
KKR’s captain Ajinkya Rahane had smiled cryptically “ask Cricket Australia” when questioned about why Green didn’t bowl, with CA later responding that the 26-year-old was still recovering from a minor lower-back problem that the Knight Riders knew all about.
Against the Green-less attack, Sunrisers, put into bat, made hay, with the ‘Travi-shek’ partnership between the reinvigorated Aussie and Abhishek Sharma quickly clicking back into its most destructive mode as they plundered 82 within the powerplay, Head leading the way with six fours and three sixes in 21 balls – including 20 from one over.
He eventually perished for 46, toe-ending a short one from Kartik Tyagi straight into Green’s big hands at mid-on, but with Abhishek going on to make 48 off 21 and Heinrich Klaasen bludgeoning 52 off 35, Sunrisers’ 8-226, the highest total of the season, looked a tall order.
In KKR’s reply, featuring a blistering opening salvo of 28 off just seven balls from Scorchers’ Finn Allen at the same ground where he crashed the fastest T20 World Cup ton in the semi-final last month, Green entered at 2-67 with all still to play for, only to be quickly involved in a mix-up with Angkrish Raghuvanshi.
At first, everyone thought the Indian had been run out at the bowler’s end until video checks revealed that the pair – fractionally – hadn’t actually crossed mid-pitch amid their dithering, so it was the Australian who had to troop off, out for two off two balls. The episode seemed to sum up his current fortunes.
Raghuvanshi then ran himself out for 52 and once Rinku Singh had departed for 35, KKR succumbed to 161 all out off 16 overs, with Jaydev Unadkat their main tormentor with 3-21.
IPL 2026 standings
Australians in IPL 2026
Chennai Super Kings: Matt Short ($255k), Spencer Johnson ($255k, replaces Nathan Ellis ($340k))
Delhi Capitals: Mitchell Starc ($2m)
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Josh Hazlewood ($2.13m), Tim David ($510k)
Punjab Kings: Marcus Stoinis ($1.9m), Ben Dwarshuis ($745k), Mitchell Owen ($510k), Cooper Connolly ($510k), Xavier Bartlett ($136k)
Kolkata Knight Riders: Cameron Green ($3.5m)
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Pat Cummins ($3.5m), Travis Head ($2.38m), Jack Edwards ($510k, withdrawn)
Lucknow Super Giants: Josh Inglis ($1.49m), Mitchell Marsh ($578k)
