“I would like to see him play the opening slot for KKR” - Anil Kumble’s interesting take ahead of IPL 2026 season

Former Indian spinner and commentator Anil Kumble believes that the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) should utilise the Australian star all-rounder Cameron Green in the opening position instead of keeping him down the order.

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Notably, Green was roped in by the Kolkata-based franchise for a whopping INR 25.2 Crore in the IPL 2026 mini-auction as he emerged as the most expensive overseas signing in IPL Auction history, overtaking Mitchell Starc.

"I would like to see him play the opening slot for KKR. I think, in terms of a finisher, KKR already have a decent line-up. They have Rinku Singh, for instance. I don't think they utilised their resources well last season," Anil Kumble said on JioStar.

Furthermore, Kumble reasoned out on why he wants Green to be in the top-order, adding that KKR has enough firepower in their middle-order in Ramandeep Singh, Rovman Powell and Rinku Singh. He went on to add that Green’s batting position depends on where Ajinkya Rahane wants to bat in the order.

"However, if you look at the kind of batting depth they had - Ramandeep Singh, Rovman Powell, and Rinku Singh; these are all capable and experienced batters who can operate in the No. 5, No. 6, and finisher roles. So I feel they don't need Cameron Green to do that job. I would rather see him at the top of the order, either opening or at No. 3, depending on where Ajinkya Rahane wants to bat. Sunil Narine could drop down to No. 6 or No. 7 or even act as a floater," he concluded.

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) squad for IPL 2026

Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell*, Sunil Narine*, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, Cameron Green*, Matheesha Pathirana*, Mustafizur Rahman*, Tejasvi Singh, Rachin Ravindra*, Finn Allen*, Tim Seifert*, Akash Deep, Rahul Tripathi, Daksh Kamra, Sarthak Ranjan, Prashant Solanki, Kartik Tyagi.

*indicates overseas players.

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