Australia head coach Andrew McDonald has expressed his concern over Cameron Green’s workload in the lead-up to next year’s IPL, saying that the decision on the all-rounder’s participation in the cash-rich league will be taken closer to the event.

Green is likely to fetch big bucks in the IPL 2022 mini-auction, slated to be held in Kochi on December 23.

“His (Green) overall load in the next 12 months of cricket, is it a concern? Yeah, I think it’s a concern for every player,” McDonald was quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press (AAP).

“We’ve spoken about it several times. it’s hypothetical to see how he’s feeling come the end of March. He’s got a lot of cricket before the IPL and I’m sure his decision won’t be made right now, it will be made later on down the track leading into the IPL.

“You never know what your body is going to feel like in three months’ time on the back of nine Test matches plus some white ball cricket of the back end of that Indian series,” he added.

The 2023 edition of IPL is sandwiched between Border-Gavaskar Trophy (February-March) in India and the Ashes (June-July) in England.

Australia Test captain Pat Cummins had already pulled out of the upcoming IPL season because of a hectic international calendar.

In recent times, the back injury has troubled Cameron Green and hampered his bowling as well.

“We’re lucky and fortunate enough that the quality in front of him (Green) doesn’t mean that he has to bowl excessive amounts of overs,” McDonald said.

“He bats in the top six, he’s holding his own as a batter. So I could say that he’s pretty much unrestricted at the moment.”

(With PTI inputs)