Melbourne, Australia

Five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians purchased young Aussie all-rounder Cameron Green for INR 17.50 crores at this year’s mini-auction, making him the second-most-expensive player in the tournament's history. Green, who played just eight T20Is so far, will be expected to fill legendary Kieron Pollard’s shoes at MI, who had retired as a player after this season.

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On Monday, after picking his maiden five-for in Tests against South Africa at the MCG, Green commented on his IPL price tag for the first time. Speaking to the media, the 23-year-old said he doesn’t think he has done enough to earn that price, and that this intimidating price will not change the person he is.

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"To be fair, I think I didn't do much to kind of earn that," he said. "I just put my name into the auction, and it just happened. It doesn't change who I am or how I think and all the confidence I have in my cricket. Hopefully, I didn't change too much."

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At the mini-auction in Kochi, three franchises mainly – Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals were the ones chasing him but it was the Rohit Sharma-led team that made the winning bid of 17.25 crores. Despite this being a bumper deal, Green was still behind Sam Curran – who was purchased by Punjab Kings for a price of INR 18.50 crores – the biggest draw in IPL auction history.

All-rounders, in particular, made news at the auction table on December 23rd. While Curran and Green were the top two on the list of most-expensive players ever bought, two-time World Cup winner, Ben Stokes wasn’t behind. The star cricketer was bought was Chennai Super Kings in a deal worth INR 16.25 crores; meanwhile, former Windies skipper Nicholas Pooran also went for almost the same price (INR 16 crores) to Lucknow Super Giants.

The next season of the Indian Premier League will begin at the end of March or early April next year and will see the introduction of the new Impact Player rule - where teams will be allowed to substitute one player from their playing XI with an Indian player.