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Steve Smith and David Warner break Aussie IPL cash record

Australia's two best batsmen are out of action for the foreseeable.(AFP PHOTO / GREG WOOD)
5th January, 2018
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Steve Smith and David Warner are set to become the highest paid Australians in the history of the Indian Premier League, after they were both snapped up for more than $A2 million.

Australia’s two batting dynamos dominated the IPL last season, with Warner topping the run-scorers list with 641 at 58.27 while Smith was fourth with 472 runs to his name.

And the pair were rewarded in kind on Thursday night.

Warner was retained by the Sunrisers Hyderabad, while Smith will play with the returning Rajasthan Royals, both for $A2.4 million.

Smith’s contract means he will move from the Rising Pune Supergiants, who replaced the suspended Royals for the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

It also comes a day after former Australian captain Michael Clarke warned that the world’s best batsman would need to monitor his workload in coming years.

The deals overtake the $A2.01 million contract Shane Warne inked with the Royals in 2011, and is well above the $A1.07 million the pair were both listed as being signed on last year.

They’re unlikely to be the only Australians set to profit big from this year’s tournament.

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A new broadcast deal worth $A3.2 billion has caused the salary cap to rise by 20 per cent to $A16.28 million this year – more than the player spend for all eight Big Bash League clubs combined.

Mitchell Starc has already indicated he will nominate for the January 27 and 28 auction in Bangalore, while a more open schedule means the likes of Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Glenn Maxwell could all benefit.

Allrounder Mitchell Marsh has already confirmed he won’t play in the competition in 2018, after signing with English county club Surrey in the hope of readying himself for next year’s Ashes.

Meanwhile Indian captain Virat Kohli also signed the most lucrative deal in the history of the IPL, retained by Royal Challengers Bangalore for $A3.4 million on Thursday – eclipsing Yuvraj Singh’s $A3.2 million in 2015.

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