Australians in the Indian Premier League 2014 (Part II)

This Indian Premier League season will see a total of 23 Australians take part in the tournament and we have already looked at some of the big-ticket players in the first part of this piece.

I today analyse the remaining Australian cricketers in IPL 2014, as well as those who missed out on selection.

Noteworthy inclusions
The Kolkata Knight Riders like a bit of pace about them, which is probably why they have gone in with Pat Cummins in place of Brett Lee. Lee had played for the Knight Riders since 2011, and the franchise will hope Cummins remains fitter than usual.

Apart from Maxwell and Johnson, the Kings XI Punjab will have Shaun Marsh and George Bailey, with the latter coming in as the captain of the side. Bailey replaces the previous Punjab captain, Adam Gilchrist.

Bailey’s captaincy form for Australia in the World T20 raised a lot of question marks about his leadership capabilities. In a 14-match league stage, he will either have a chance to prove things otherwise or have his captaincy further exposed.

Sunrisers Hyderabad will have both Australian limited-overs openers in Aaron Finch and David Warner donning their grey. With Indian opening batsman and Hyderabad captain Shikhar Dhawan in the line-up as well, decision-making around which two of the trio will open the innings could get interesting.

Steve Smith will get a huge opportunity to prove his limited-overs credentials again when he turns out for the Rajasthan Royals, but the question is whether he will get enough opportunities. Smith has Watson, Faulkner, Brad Hodge, Ben Cutting and Kane Richardson for company, and there’s every chance that the former leg-spinner could be fighting for that fourth foreign spot in the team.

The Chennai Super Kings brought in John Hastings, but will rely on Ben Hilfenhaus to take up their fast-bowling attack as they have in the past. Another team from down south, Royal Challengers Bangalore, will hope that Mitchell Starc’s performance in the World T20 was an aberration.

In recent years, Bangalore have had an attractive look to them but have flattered to deceive more often than not. The batting is in the able hands of Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers, but with the screws coming out of Starc’s bowling during the World T20, the management may have a problem on their hands.

Apart from Michael Hussey, the Mumbai Indians have gone in for Ben Dunk and Josh Hazlewood. But given the presence of Lasith Malinga, Kieron Pollard and Corey Anderson in the Indians’ line-up, the Australian newcomers might have to wait their turn.

Similarly, the Delhi Daredevils picked up Nathan Coulter-Nile as their only Australian cricketer, allowing the quick a chance to better his recent showings.

In his recent commentary stint at the World T20 2014, Australian great Shane Warne suggested that Coulter-Nile needed to improve his attitude. This will be a good opportunity to show the fans back home what he can provide.

Method To madness or random exclusions?
IPL auctions are hard to predict, especially when it comes to overseas (non-Indian) cricketers. Once you scratch the top few off, second-guessing which players will make team squads is a hazardous exercise. Which is also why it’s difficult to explain some of the exclusions from this edition of the competition.

Take, for instance, the case of Cameron White. This Victorian was in such form in domestic cricket that he was given a national recall, where he had scores of 75, 58* and 41 against England and a 14 against South Africa before a failure against India in the World T20.

White’s national selection came at the back of his two half-centuries in the Big Bash League, and having scored over 1000 runs in the Ryobi Cup and Sheffield Shield season. White was not selected by any of the IPL sides, which I put down to his mediocre returns in the IPL so far. Last season, White scored just 209 runs in 17 matches at an average of 17 and a strike rate of 109.

Brett Lee had a decent last IPL but failed to get a call-up, as did Mitchell Marsh and Dan Christian. There was no place for Ben Laughlin or Ben Rohrer, nor was there one for the newest T20 sensation Craig Simmons, who hammered a couple of centuries in the previous Big Bash League season.

There’s one factor that could have decided the fate of at least some of the aforementioned players – their higher base price. According to a few industry experts, it makes more sense to keep one’s base price – the price at which the bidding for the player begins – as low as possible to encourage franchises to begin bidding.

Lee, for instance, had a base price of Rs.20 million, one he would have believed reasonable given his experience – especially after being the side’s bowling mentor last season in place of Wasim Akram, who had decided to take a break from the game.

With the franchises becoming more cost-conscious as far as the overseas players are concerned, it may be a self-defeating strategy to name a high price for yourself.