Fellow Australians Jake Fraser-McGurk and Spencer Johnson went unsold in Tuesday night’s mini-auction, as did English wicketkeeper Jamie Smith.
Green could soon become even richer, with Cricket Australia (CA) considering longer-term contracts. Green is among 23 Australians on an annual contract with CA.
“We have got an open mind to having a longer-term commitment to those players,” CA chief executive Todd Greenberg told reporters in Adelaide on Wednesday.
“Particularly in the next couple of years when there’s an enormous workload of Test cricket and they’re going to have to make some distinct choices about their availability.
“The short answer is yes, we are open to longer-term deals for the right players at the right parts of their career.
“Over time, players have always had an annual one-year contract. But over the last couple of years we’ve been starting to open up our minds to a longer term [deal], and that’s exactly what we’re thinking now.”
The specifics of CA contracts are not released publicly, though Test captain Pat Cummins is understood to be on about $3 million. Green and others who feature in Test and white-ball cricket, such as Travis Head, are believed to be on CA deals worth well in excess of $1 million.
The Kolkata Knight Riders paid big money for Mitchell Starc.Credit: AP
Starc is one of 10 Australians already retained by their current IPL franchises, along with Test teammates Pat Cummins and Head. Josh Hazlewood, who was ruled out of the Ashes due to an Achilles injury, has also been retained by defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).
Green has played two seasons of IPL previously with RCB (2024) and Mumbai Indians (2023), scoring 707 runs at 41.6 and a strike-rate of 153.7 from 29 matches. His 16 wickets across both campaigns have come at 41.5 and an economy rate of 9.07.
Green will play as an all-rounder for the Knight Riders and he looms as a key figure in Australia’s T20 World Cup campaign in February, having batted at No.4 for the past year, averaging 57 at a strike rate of 162.
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His lucrative payday also comes after a light-hearted explanation from the West Australian of why he was originally listed as solely a batsman in the IPL auction’s registration process.
“I don’t know if my manager will like to hear this, but it was a stuff-up on his end,” Green told reporters in Adelaide on Sunday.
“He didn’t mean to say batter. I think he accidentally selected the wrong box, so it was pretty funny how it’s all played out, but it’s actually a stuff-up on his end. I’ll be good to bowl.”
