'He’s unfortunately out of the IPL' - RCB reveals why Cameron Green was not retained

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) made a difficult but strategic decision not to retain Australian all-rounder Cameron Green for the 2025 IPL season. Despite Green’s impactful performance in IPL 2024, his recent back injury has sidelined him for the foreseeable future. According to RCB’s Director of Cricket, Mo Babat, Green’s injury was a major factor in their decision, as he recently underwent surgery and is projected to face a six-month recovery timeline.

“We certainly would have retained Cameron Green if it weren’t for the injury,” Babat explained. Given Cricket Australia’s projection for Green’s recovery, he will likely miss crucial series, including the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and the Sri Lanka tour, both key to his rehab journey. The anticipated IPL 2025 mega-auction in December further complicated the decision, as Green will only be in the early stages of recovery by then.

IPL regulations discourage players from registering in the auction if they cannot guarantee their availability, and Green’s prolonged rehab ruled him out of RCB’s immediate plans. Notably, he sustained a back injury during a recent whiteball series. In IPL 2024 green flourished by scoring 255 runs at a brisk strike rate of 143.26 and picking up 10 wickets. 

Who was retained by RCB?

While RCB decided against retaining any overseas players, they have secured a core group of Indian players — Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, and Yash Dayal — for their upcoming campaign. RCB’s strategic focus has shifted to using its sizable budget of ₹83 crore to restructure the team. With former captain Faf du Plessis also among those released, the franchise now has an open captaincy spot.

Babat acknowledged speculation around Kohli’s possible return as skipper but clarified that no decision has been made: “I’m 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.”