Veteran Indian pacer Umesh Yadav slammed Cameron Green for his predictable bowling against Lucknow Super Giants at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Thursday. The Australian all-rounder was finally given the green signal to bowl against LSG after he did not bowl in the first two games.

Green returned with expensive figures of 1-28 in the two overs he bowled. The lanky pacer was taken for 16 runs in the penultimate over of the innings by Mukul Choudhary when LSG needed 30 runs off the final two overs.

Green kept bowling slower deliveries which were short in length and Choudhary took advantage.

“From the T20 perspective, I always feel that when the game is so close, the 19th over is very important because you win or lose the game in that 19th over. If the bowler who bowls the 19th over bowls a good over, runs are left for the bowler who bowls the 20th. If he bowls a bad 19th over, you won’t have runs left,” Yadav said on JioHotstar.

“Green could have done slightly better. He was very predictable. All were slower balls into the wicket. You might miss one or two balls, but how many balls will you miss because you also have to hit sixes? Bowling six slower balls into the wicket in an over is not a matter of intelligence, and that for a player who has played so much. It would have mattered had he saved even one six,” he added.

On the other hand, former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra said Choudhary’s onslaught against Green was a reality check for the all-rounder.

“It was a reality check for Cameron Green that he is not a death bowler. When you come into a league like the IPL, you get a reality check. A small kid, who has never played for India and hasn’t represented Rajasthan in double-digit games in any format, was standing in front of you, and he hit you for 16 runs,” he said.

KKR will next take on Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, on Tuesday.