Just a few days preceding the IPL 2026 auction in Abu Dhabi, Australian all-rounder Cameron Green caused a huge stir with his ingenious and unanticipated strategy. During the IPL 2026 auction on December 16, where all-rounders once again are the most wanted item, Cameron Green has surprised everybody by putting himself down as a batter only and not as an all-rounder.
At the auction, seam-bowling all-rounders are the ones who usually fetch the highest bids because they provide an ideal balance to the teams, especially in India, where spinners are often the masters. The Australian star, however, decided to pull a smart move that would possibly lead him to a record-breaking deal because he would get immense benefits from the auction rules and bidding order.
Cameron Green baffles everyone by taking part in IPL 2026 Auction as a batter
Right after the BCCI announced the list of 350 players who would be auctioned, fans and teams saw a surprising thing next to Green’s name. Instead of being part of the all-rounder category, he had put himself in the first set of batters, which left everyone shocked.
This raised many queries, such as whether the Aussie star is hurt or just planning to play as a batter next season, but it was actually part of his IPL mini-auction strategy. In IPL auctions, batters are called first, followed by all-rounders and then bowlers, and that’s where Green played his game.
Had Green been in the all-rounders’ category with a starting price of 2 crore, only the teams with the biggest remaining purses could have participated in the early bidding. That would have greatly reduced his chances of landing a gigantic payday.
What is the reason for Cameron Green not to include himself in the all-rounders category?
Cameron Green is going to enter the auction as a batter, which means he has a chance of being picked by any team from the very beginning, and thus there may be a lot of different teams competing for him. He may have been designated as a batter for the auction, but still, he may play the full all-rounder role in IPL 2026.
Cameron Green is 25 years old and he already has two good seasons behind him—first with the Mumbai Indians in 2023 and then with the Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2024. He has scored 707 runs in 29 matches at a very good strike rate of 153.69, including one century and two half-centuries, and has also bowled 16 times for 9.07 economy.
On the other hand, the last season was missed by Green due to a back injury but now he is looking for a great comeback. His name is now on the top list of the auction, with joined big hitters like New Zealand’s Devon Conway, Australia’s Jake Fraser-McGurk, South Africa’s David Miller, and India’s Sarfaraz Khan and Prithvi Shaw.
Cameron Green is a player in the first session of the auction as KKR, who has a massive budget, comes to IPL Auction.
The overseas players in this group have a starting price of Rs 2 crores, while Sarfaraz and Shaw have a price tag of 75 lakhs as they could not find buyers in the previous auction. The competition this year is tougher, as there were 350 players shortlisted out of which 240 Indians and 110 were foreigners, but only 77 spots have to be filled at the auction, including just 31 for foreigners.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will be the first to take advantage of the biggest auction purse of 64.30 crore and also 13 open positions, while Chennai Super Kings will come next with 43.4 crore and nine players to be filled.
