Where does Cameron Green's RCB career go from here?

On April 11 (Thursday), Cameron Green, who was traded into the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) side for a whopping INR 17 crore, became one of the most expensive players to warm the bench in the IPL, if not THE most. RCB went into their match against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium having won just one of their first five games. Change was inevitable, and it was Green who had to make way for Will Jacks. It was a long time coming for Jacks, who missed last season due to an injury and warmed the bench for the first five matches of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.

So, why didn’t the Green experiment work?

Green’s strength lies in the powerplay, where he has scored at an average of close to 49 and strike rate of 167 (BPB 3.44) in T20s since 2023. However, that drastically drops in the middle phase. With Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis opening the batting for RCB, a huge chunk of the deliveries are eaten up by them, leaving Green very less time to make an impact.

Green’s entry points this season have been 1.6, 2.4, 5.3, 5.4 & 17.2. When he came out to bat in the second over, against KKR, he smashed 24 off 12 in the powerplay, but in the middle phase managed just run-a-ball nine, further going on to emphasise how important it is to get him in early.

Last season, in 11 out of his 16 innings, Green batted in the top three for Mumbai. And out of those, the latest he came out to bat was at 4.4 overs. He smashed 425 runs (ave 47.22) at a strike rate of 162.2 

Jacks, on the other hand, has a strike rate of over 160 across all three phases in the same time frame and makes for a more versatile option, although he failed to make an impact with the bat today.

Does his bowling warrant him a place?

Not really. He has picked up just eight T20 wickets since 2023, striking once every 58.3 runs 36.9 deliveries apart. Many thought he could be an asset after he picked up a couple of wickets in the match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) with short deliveries. It felt like the two short balls in an over rule could work in Green's favour, but the pacer has gone wicketless ever since.

While Jacks is an off-spinner, and he offers much more with the ball, having picked up 26 wickets at an economy of 6.8 since the start of 2023.

Moreover, it is about the composition of the side. With du Plessis leading the side and Glenn Maxwell un-droppable, it leaves place for just two more overseas players. If early signs are anything to go by, RCB have indicated that they will go in with one overseas pacer – hence we have seen either Alzarri Joseph or Reece Topley play all the games so far. 

Can RCB fit in both Jacks and Green?It may not be a bad idea for RCB to have an Indian bowling set-up with Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, and Yash Dayal/Vijaykumar Vyshak leading the way, with Green, Maxwell, and Jacks as the other three bowlers. However, with Siraj’s form looking a tad dicey, RCB are therefore forced to dig into their foreign fast bowling resources.

With the mega auction set to be held later this year, do RCB retain Green? If they do, it will show that they had a long-term plan in place, but if they release him, it will be an admission that they did commit a mistake. 

While Green might still have a part to play this season, his replacement Jacks will certainly be given a longer rope and du Plessis had made it clear at the toss.

“We've tried to change things, so we've given chances to some of our players, some new players and it's up to them to take the opportunity. It's important to give players a decent run, but we've found ourselves in a stage where we haven't done well, so it's time to make changes,” the RCB skipper said.

Early days, but RCB's decision to trade Green for INR 17 crore has not proven to be a shrewd one so far.