2 min readMar 19, 2026 08:52 PM IST
Kolkata Knight Riders are approaching their IPL 2026 campaign with poor form and injury concerns compounding their woes, and former Chennai Super Kings batter S Badrinath did not mince words as he criticised the team’s overall management.
Badrinath slammed KKR for backing veteran India batter Ajinkya Rahane as captain for a second successive season and also questioned the team’s decision to make a record-breaking signing of Australia all-rounder Cameron Green for Rs 25.20 crore during the IPL 2026 mini-auction last December. Battling injuries and poor form since, Green has struggled to make an impact in national colours and Badrinath questioned if the Australian had it in him to win games all by himself.
“You’ve signed him for 25 crores, and he is woefully out of form. He struggled massively for Australia in the T20 World Cup. Cameron Green went for so much purely because of the hype. He is not worth that much. Has he singlehandedly done anything in the IPL? Australian players always get hyped up, and he benefited from that. I believe it was a bad move by KKR,” Badrinath said on his YouTube channel.
‘Captaincy a weak link’
Just a season after they clinched their third title in IPL 2024, KKR went in for a major overhaul by even releasing the title-winning skipper, Shreyas Iyer, and banking on the experience of Rahane. The move backfired last year when KKR finished eighth on the points table with only five wins in 14 matches. Badrinath lambasted the KKR management for entrusting Rahane with the leadership again, declaring it to be the weakest aspect of KKR’s contingent, which is also grappling with multiple injury and availability concerns.
“Ajinkya Rahane is definitely a weakness. His captaincy itself is a weak link. All their big investments have gone wrong. They trusted Harshit Rana and invested in him, but he is ruled out. Pathirana was a huge signing, and now he’s doubtful. Mustafizur was another big investment, and he is ruled out. They’ve taken many costly decisions as there is uncertainty over most of their big investments,” remarked Badrinath.
