Identified as a powerplay specialist, Green is known to bowl tight lines with the new ball, and has been adding variations to his arsenal with each passing year, including a carrom ball that was unveiled last year. At 27, Green has already played 94 T20s, picking up 74 wickets @27.66, but it’s the economy of 6.66 that stands out.

Here’s all you need to know about the spinner.

Chris Green – The beginning

Green was born in Durban, South Africa in 1993 and moved to Manly, Australia as a seven-year-old. His parents were both professional Tennis players who featured in the Wimbledon, and his brother, too, turned pro.

Green is said to have had a hard time choosing between tennis and cricket. After going ahead in a career with the latter, he made his Sydney Grade debut in 2013, representing North District. A year later, he made his List A debut for New South Wales under Moises Henriques in 2014, playing in the One Day Cup with Nathan Lyon and Steve O’Keefe on Test duty.

It was in the Big Bash League that he earned a name, making his debut in the 2014/15 season. He came to bat at No.4, ahead of skipper Michael Hussey, and went wicketless in his four overs, giving away just 14 runs in his only game that season.

Later in 2015, he featured for the Surrey Second XI, playing alongside Dom Sibley, Vikram Solanki and Sam Curran.

Breakthrough BBL season

2015/16 proved to be a breakthrough year for Green – playing alongside the likes of Jacques Kallis, Mike Hussey and Shane Watson, he featured in eight games, picking up as many wickets at an economy of 7.57. It led to Sydney Thunder’s first title win.

From there on, Green became a regular part of the Thunder team. Next season, he played eight games and picked up seven wickets, but it was his economy of 6.79 that stood out, and he landed a permanent role as a powerplay specialist who kept a lid on the run-rate.

T20 globe-trotter

2018 saw him explore other T20 leagues as well. That year, he was roped in as cover for Cameron Delport briefly in the Caribbean Premier League [ CPL ], but found himself playing a full-fledged role when Shoaib Malik flew out to be a part of the 2018 Asia Cup. In 11 games, Green picked up ten wickets for the Guyana Amazon Warriors, and has been part of the team since. He was named their captain for the 2020 season.

Guyana Amazon Warriors have appeared in five @CPL finals, but lost all of them 🤔@Aadya_Wisden spoke to their coach Johan Botha about their plans to break the unwanted streak.https://t.co/AsagCe2knz

— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) August 18, 2020

He continued to grow from strength to strength in his role in the Big Bash, securing an economy rate of 6.89 in the 2018/19 season in 14 games. For the 2019 Pakistan Super League [ PSL ], Green was called in as a replacement for Qais Ahmad at the Multan Sultans. This was two years after his maiden PSL call up, where he spent time at Lahore Qalandars “shadowing (teammate) Sunil Narine in the nets.”

Last year, Green was also called up as a replacement for the injured Ashton Agar in the Birmingham Bears line-up, and joined the squad within 24 hours of completing a game in the Global T20 Canada.

Setback and return

Chris Green earned his maiden IPL contract in December 2019, when he was picked up by Kolkata Knight Riders at his base price of INR 20 lakhs. However, just a month later, during BBL 2019/20, Green was banned for bowling for three months, after his action was found to be suspect.

After clearing necessary tests, Green was allowed to bowl again in July, and joined KKR for IPL 2020. He spent the first seven games on the bench, but earned his IPL debut after Narine himself was found to have a suspect action. In his maiden IPL outing, Green sent down 2.5 overs for 24 runs, without picking up a wicket.