3 reasons why MI made a mistake by signing Cameron Green
Cameron Green made his T20I debut earlier this year against Pakistan. Since then, he has represented the country in 8 matches in this format. His standout performance with the bat came against the Men in Blue when he scored 52(21) in the decider of the T20I series in September. With the ball, his figures of 2/16 in 3 overs on debut remain his best.
Australian all-rounder Cameron Green was signed by the Mumbai Indians for a staggering ₹17.50 crores. The winning bid turned out to be the second-highest in the history of IPL auctions after England's Sam Curran earned himself a deal worth ₹18.50 crores in the same auction.
📽️ Cameron Green makes merry & is SOLD to @mipaltan for INR 17. 50 Crore 👌
#TATAIPLAuction @TataCompanies https://t.co/cFdXbYIIUO
However, this decision might not end up working out for the franchise. We shall explore the three potential reasons.
#1 Lack of experience
Although Cameron Green is considered a prodigy in Australian cricketing circles, he is still in the development stage. He has played only 21 T20s in his career so far, scoring 245 runs at an average of 17, and has taken 5 wickets at an economy rate of over 9, which is a tad expensive.
While Cameron Green has lived up to expectations in longer formats, the 23-year-old batting all-rounder is yet to prove himself in the shortest format of the game. As a bowler, he needs to have a lot more variety and consistency. At the moment, he has not proven to be a reliable 5th or 6th bowler in a T20 team.
#2 Disbalances the purse for the rest of the auction
Mumbai Indians had their eyes on Cameron Green since a while 🥶
#CricketTwitter #IPL #MI https://t.co/waOg2w8tBO
Mumbai Indians had a purse of ₹20.55 crores coming into the auction. They have exhausted more than 85% of the same on an unproven talent like Green. While the decision may seem exciting on paper, it may be a classic case of recency bias.
The Ambani-owned franchise should have stopped bidding after a point. They would have been better equipped had they invested more money on domestic players who would be competing for 7 spots in a playing 11. At the time of writing this article, they are still required to buy another 6 players including an overseas pro, all within a paltry ₹1.55 crores remaining in their purse.
#3 Will be forced to fit him in the XI due to the price tag
Mumbai have an outstanding overseas contingent for the upcoming season. While they may have finished at the bottom of the points table in the previous season, they seem to have invested in a lot of young talent. Dewald Brevis, Tim David and Tristian Stubbs have shown immense potential and might be the team's backbone in the future.
Cameron Green will most likely bat in the middle order in the MI playing XI. Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Dewald Brevis, Cameron Green and Tim David are expected to make up the top 6. However, he is best utilized in the first 6 overs of the game.
Tristian Stubbs might not be a first-choice player because of this signing. He has proven to be a more complete T20 batter - a record of 838 runs at an average of 28 and a strike rate of 156 indicates he might be a better option to include.