Kolkata Knight Riders’ high-profile acquisition Cameron Green has resumed bowling in the nets and is “not far off” from that in an IPL match, bowling coach Tim Southee said on Sunday.
The Australian all-rounder, the IPL’s costliest overseas buy at Rs 25.20 crore, has not played so far in the season as Cricket Australia monitors his workload following back surgery.
“Yeah, Green has bowled well, followed his rehabilitation and got back to playing in games. He will continue to do so,” Southee said ahead of KKR’s clash with Punjab Kings.
However, Green is unlikely to face PBKS on Monday, despite being seen at full throttle at practice on Saturday.
Sunday’s match day minus one training session was wasted at the Eden Gardens, with most of the regulars staying away while several home-grown recruits, including Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Rahul Tripathi, trained indoors.
KKR’s inexperienced pace attack – in the absence of Mustafizur Rahman, Harshit Rana, Akash Deep and Matheesha Pathiran for various reasons – was a major talking point at the start of the season.
The problem was compounded by Green’s inability to bowl, which became the talk of the town after KKR failed to defend 220 in their opening loss to Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede.
Captain Ajinkya Rahane responded to a broadcaster’s query about Green not bowling by quipping, “Ask Cricket Australia”, prompting their management to clarify that KKR were “fully aware” of his recovery timetable and workload management plan.
Southee said the franchise remains in constant contact with the Australian board.
“We’re in regular contact with Cricket Australia and I’m sure we’ll see Cameron bowling soon. I’m sure he’s not far from bowling in the match.”
KKR have lost both their matches so far, including a crushing 65-run defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad to open the opener in the previous match here on April 2.
Their inexperienced pace attack remains a work in progress. Mustafizur’s replacement Blessing Muzarabani impressed with figures of 4/41, while youngsters Vaibhav Arora and Kartik Tyagi also showed promising breakthroughs, but the seasoned duo of Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy are yet to impress.
“It’s a long tournament for sure, two games in a row. With the setbacks with the bowlers that we haven’t been able to experience, it presents opportunities for the other guys. We’re still excited about the bowling group we’ve got,” Southee said.
“They are inexperienced, but they have a tremendous amount of skill. We saw that firsthand in the first two games. Our job is to get a little more consistency out of them.”
“Although the first two games didn’t go as planned, I’m sure they’ll show during the tournament how skilled and good they can be at this level.”
Southee emphasized the need for early wickets, especially in the power play.
“It’s always difficult when you don’t take wickets, especially in the over. Early wickets hamper the run flow and make things easy. We haven’t quite got it right yet, but we’ll plan accordingly and hopefully take those early wickets.”
Team selection has also come under scrutiny, with the likes of Tim Seifert, Rachin Ravindra and Rovman Powell yet to feature.
But Southee said finding the right combination is never easy.
“I think you look at all the teams, there are so many good players to choose from. There is a debate about which side matches the opposition best and what the conditions are,” Southee said.
“There’s so much talent it’s hard to get the perfect balance. But it’s the side we thought was best for the first two games. We’ll plan what we’re up against and pick the team that gives us the best chance.”
