The heat’s on once again for Cameron Green in the Indian Premier League.
A year after being the record-breaking signing for Mumbai Indians, he’s now been styled as the equally high-priced 'Incredible Hulk' for the newly-rebranded Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
And RCB, who’ve this year ditched their city’s old Anglicised spelling of Bangalore, are counting on the sort of heroics from Green that their women’s side got from another Aussie allrounder Ellyse Perry, the ace in their recent WPL triumph.
With a World Cup place to be sealed too and a huge franchise captained by Virat Kohl that’s quite desperate to at last win the IPL at the 17th attempt … well, no pressure then, Cam!
At least the mind-blowing deals for strike bowlers Mitchell Starc (Kolkata Knight Riders, $4.43 million) and Pat Cummins (Sunrisers Hyderabad, $3.67m) may have helped shift the spotlight from Green a little.
But much is still expected of the player hailed a "once-in-a-generation" performer by Matthew Hayden.
Coming off his best-ever Test knock against New Zealand in the Test arena, RCB will want to see Green at his spectacular white-ball best, which Mumbai witnessed in vivid spells last year, particularly with the remarkable century that sealed their playoffs place.
Which is probably why RCB conjured up a bit of social media silliness between him and fellow new boy Lockie Ferguson, where the Kiwi is not happy with Green's nickname until the Aussie, a mite self-consciously, unleashes a green fist and dubs himself 'The Hulk'.
So, the first team to try to avoid making Green green with anger are champions Chennai Super Kings in Friday’s tournament-opening blockbuster that pits one IPL icon MS Dhoni against another, Kohli.
Dhoni, at 42, caused a surprise on the eve of the match when he announced at the start of what's expected to be his final season that he's handing the Chennai captaincy to batter Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Chennai were the only one of the 10 IPL teams who didn't have an Australian in their ranks, until they were joined on Thursday by Rajasthan Royals amid the news, confirmed to espncricinfo, that Adam Zampa has withdrawn from the Rajasthan Royals for personal reasons.
Delhi Capitals will have four of the remaining 15-strong contingent of Aussies, headed by the evergreen David Warner, who may not have been wanted for England's The Hundred but is still lauded in India as the IPL's all-time leading overseas scorer with 6397 runs -- and counting.
The Capitals are stil steered by an Australian coach in Ricky Ponting, while there'll be plenty of interest too in Justin Langer, who'll be taking on his first major head coaching job at Lucknow Super Giants since his acrimonious exit from the national team two years ago.
AUSTRALIAN PLAYERS IN IPL 2024
Cameron Green, Glenn Maxwell (Royal Challengers Bangalore)
Mitchell Starc (Kolkata Knight Riders)
Nathan Ellis (Punjab Kings)
Mitchell Marsh, David Warner, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Jhye Richardson (Delhi Capitals)
Tim David (Mumbai Indians)
Pat Cummins, Travis Head (Sunrisers Hyderabad)
Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Turner (Lucknow Super Giants)
Spencer Johnson, Matthew Wade (Gujarat Titans)
