IPL 2006: Why Shane Watson looks forward to work with allrounder Green?

The union of Cameroon Green, the highest ever paid overseas player in IPL, and Kolkata Knight Riders’ assistant coach Shane Watson is one of the best things Australian cricket fans would have hoped for. The gentle giant, roped by KKR at a whopping Rs 25.20 crores, has frequently been billed as the potential successor to Watson as the country’s leading allrounder across all formats – and the IPL 2026 season offers him the best chance to fine-tune his skill sets.

‘’I’ve always been a massive fan of Cameron Green. I'm an allrounder at heart, so I know what it takes to push the limits to be the best allrounder that you possibly can be,’’ said Watson, an IPL giant in his own right who has joined the KKR support staff for the upcoming season. The Knights, who went into the mini auction last week with the highest purse of Rs 64.30 crores, topped the shoppers’ list and have a decorated dugout as well.

While Watson, a multiple World Cup winner, is the deputy to head coach Abhishek Nayar, Dwayne Bravo is the mentor, Andre Russell the power coach and Tim Southee as the fast bowling coach. Speaking to KKR website in an expansive interview, the Australian spoke about the areas on which he can work with Green: ‘’I haven’t had a chance to be able to work with him in a team and help him on his journey to be the very best that he possibly can be. Now because of KKR, I get a chance to be able to work with him and pass on my knowledge that I was so fortunate to be able to gain throughout my playing days, playing with so many incredible players.

Does Green justify a phenomenal price tag as the one which Abu Dhabi brought? Breaking down on the qualities that he brings to the table, Watson said: ‘’From a KKR perspective, to be able to have someone who can bat in the top three (he has scored IPL hundreds in those positions) or if needed, he also can bat at six and seven and power hit – he’s an incredible powerhitter. That makes him incredibly versatile. He is also a world class fast bowler. He’s tall, he gets bounce and he’s also got more to be able to grow from a bowling perspective.

‘’He’s got Dwayne Bravo and also Andre Russell to work with, along with myself, to develop his T20 bowling skills. He’s a great team man, so look, you can see why the bids went up so high for him. We were adamant to be able to get him, because we knew the calibre of cricketer he is, and he’s a young guy too,’’ he said.

Despite his long association with IPL – first as a player and then an assistant coach at Delhi Capitals for a couple of years, this was the first occasion where Watto had been deeply involved in the planning stage and was on a virtual call with the KKR camp on the auction table. The decision to release someone like Russell, a KKR legend, and Venkatesh Iyer had not been easy but Watson felt such tough calls were often necessary to rebuild the squad.

 ‘’It did take a lot of courage for the ownership and leadership of KKR to be able to make the call to release Venkatesh Iyer and also Dre Russ, to be able to ensure that we had the best chance of being able to build a really, really formidable squad that didn’t have any weaknesses,’’ Watson said.

Lauding Nayar’s in-depth knowledge about the Indian cricket ecosystem, Watson observed: ‘’I think Abhishek Nayar knows just about every cricketer on the planet. His understanding of Indian domestic players, their stats, where they’re at, what they’ve been doing recently, the depth of his intel - it’s extraordinary. I’m not sure I’ve come across anyone with that level of knowledge across Indian cricket. 

‘’Going into the auction, I had complete confidence that even if we missed out on any domestic player we were targeting, Abhishek would already have had two or three alternatives lined up, with clear insight into their strengths. He was regularly sending me videos, breaking down each player’s performances across every possible scenario. That level of preparation gave us enormous confidence,’’ he added.