Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) director of cricket Mo Babat stated that all-rounder Cameron Green was part of the franchise’s retention plans but was released due to his injury, which will prevent him from playing in the 2025 IPL season.
The Australian suffered a severe back injury during the white-ball tour of England and recently underwent surgery. RCB had acquired Green in a trade with the Mumbai Indians (MI) ahead of IPL 2024.
He had a strong season with RCB, scoring 255 runs at a strike rate of 143.26 and taking 10 wickets. RCB opted not to retain any overseas players, choosing instead to keep three Indian players: Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, and Yash Dayal.
“There was one other player we certainly would have retained. That’s Cameron Green, but he’s unfortunately out of the IPL due to injury,” Mo Babat said in a statement.
Cricket Australia (CA) has projected that Cameron Green’s recovery will take about six months, meaning he will miss both the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and the tour of Sri Lanka.
By the time of the IPL 2025 mega-auction later this month, Green will still be in the early stages of recovery. Given the stricter rules regarding player withdrawals from auctions, he isn’t obligated to register if he is confident he won’t be ready in time for the next season in April-May.
“We have not made any decisions regarding the captaincy”- Mo Babat
RCB is facing another rebuild after parting ways with most of their squad. The franchise enters the auction with a substantial budget of ₹83 crore, giving them the opportunity to acquire several top players.
As three-time finalists, they also need to find a successor for Faf du Plessis, who was among those released. Early reports indicate that Virat Kohli might resume the captaincy, but RCB has confirmed that no decision has been reached yet.
“I am sorry to disappoint everybody listening. We have not made any decision related to captaincy or on that (Kohli returning as skipper) as yet. We are open to options.”
“The only obvious decision we made was not to retain Faf. He did a great job last year and the year before that. So from our perspective, we will keep a very open mind when we head to the auction,” Mo Babat said after the retention announcement.
RCB finished fourth last season after a significant turnaround in the second half. They are entering a critical period, with head coach Andy Flower tasked with building a new core and squad from the ground up.
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