"An ideal fit for us in middle-order power role," says RCB Director of Cricket Bobat on Cam Green

Mumbai Indians (MI) on Monday traded their all-rounder Cameron Green to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 player auction.

"He is the ideal fit for us in that middle-order power role," Bobat said on RCB Bold Diaries as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

"He is a high-quality, skillful and powerful batsman. He has got the game against both pace and spin. He has got international experience across formats and I am sure he will enjoy batting at the Chinnaswamy. So, seeing him do that will be really exciting. He is also a fantastic bowler and he bowls with pace and bounce, which were certainly attributes we were looking for, particularly in our home conditions. Let us not forget what an exceptional fielder he is. Some of the catches he has taken in recent times fielding at gully is seriously impressive," added Green.

The Australian all-rounder was traded by Mumbai Indians (MI) to RCB, shortly after the list of retained and released players was announced by all the franchises on Sunday.

Bobat said that a couple of hours off the retention and release deadline, RCB was made aware of Green's availability for trade and the franchise took it seriously. RCB went ahead with the trade because they did not want Green to be picked up before or during the auction by any other franchise.

RCB also wanted to enhance its middle order by adding some power, he added.

"If I go back to mid-morning yesterday [Sunday], we were pretty clear on our retentions and release decisions and we had communicated it to all of our players," Bobat said.

"We were pretty clear on what that meant for our auction priorities. So, felt like we were going to have a fairly quiet afternoon. If you look at the retentions and the decisions we made, we have obviously got a really strong top order and we wanted to enhance the middle order by adding a little bit of power," said Bobat.

"With a couple of hours off the retention and release deadline, we were made aware of Cameron's potential availability for trade, which we had to take seriously. So, having spoken to the guys at MI, we got a small group of us together at our end we thought we better discuss this and debate the pros and cons of trying to make this trade work, which is what we did for a little bit of time."

"Essentially, we were trying to weigh up whether we take the risk of someone else picking up Cameron Green now, which could have happened before the deadline...hoping he makes it to the auction as a released player, but somebody else could have picked him up, which was obviously the case. Even then if you get to the auction, there is no guarantee that you get him at the auction because you can easily be outbid," he concluded his point.

RCB's new head coach Andy Flower was also happy to have Green in the team, saying that the team's focus was its middle order.

"Our focus area really was around the middle order and where we can improve that middle order, in case we do lose some of our top players at the top [order], which inevitably happens," Flower said.

"So, that is one area and the other area was getting the balance right on the overseas players and how we allocate our resources in that area. Of course, even in these days of Impact Players, all-rounders are still important. So, we debated how we can include allrounders in our XI and when we do so what options and the flexibility that gives us. We spent a lot of debate time and looking at rosters of players and their various skills, it has been a fascinating mini-project," he added.

Green, who was bought by MI for a whopping Rs 17.5 crore at the auction last December, featured in 16 matches. The Australian had an impressive start to the IPL, scoring 452 runs, hitting an unbeaten century and two half-centuries while also taking six wickets. Trade has been carried out as per the existing player fee.

In 37 T20Is, Green has scored 697 runs at an average of 29.04, with a strike rate of over 151. He has scored a century and four fifties, with the best score of 100*. He also took 11 wickets, with the best figures of 2/16.

This action coincides with the successful completion by the Mumbai Indians of another high-profile all-cash deal to acquire all-rounder Hardik Pandya from Gujarat Titans.

Sri Lanka spinner Wanindu Hasaranga, Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood, and Indian pacer Harshal Patel are among the players released by RCB ahead of the IPL next year.

Among the other released players are New Zealand players Finn Allen, Michael Bracewell, South African all-rounder Wayne Parnell, England's David Willey and Indian players Sonu Yadav, Avinash Singh, Siddharth Kaul and Kedar Jadhav.

RCB traded Shahbaz Ahmed, their all-rounder to Sunrisers Hyderabad, in exchange for all-rounder Mayank Dagar.

The player retention window for the Indian Premier League 2024 season closed on Sunday, the 10 franchises have cumulatively retained 173 players.

RCB updated squad:Royal Challengers Bangalore: Akash Deep, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Faf Du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell, Himanshu Sharma, Karn Sharma, Mahipal Lomror, Manoj Bhandage, Mayank Dagar (T), Mohammed Siraj, Rajan Kumar, Rajat Patidar, Reece Topley, Suyash Prabhudessai, Virat Kohli, Vyshak Vijay Kumar, Will Jacks, Cameron Green (T). (ANI)