Australian superstars David Warner and Steve Smith are dominating in the Indian Premier League along with lesser lights Andrew Tye, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Moises Henriques.
Season after season Australian imports shine in the world’s strongest T20 league, yet the national T20 side continues to be a rabble.
No other country, bar the hosts, has had such a resounding impact on the IPL since it started in 2008. In its nine completed seasons, four times Australians have won the Player of the Tournament award – Shane Watson (2008 and 2013), Glenn Maxwell (2014) and Adam Gilchrist (2009).
To put that in perspective, only twice has that award been won by an Indian player. Meanwhile, an Australian has been the leading runscorer in the IPL season four times – Shaun Marsh (2008), Matthew Hayden (2009), Mike Hussey (2013) and Warner (2015).
Warner, one of the greatest players in IPL history, was also the second-highest runscorer in 2016 with an extraordinary 848 runs at 61. This season he is the leading batsman in the competition with 459 runs at 66 (strike rate 151) including an incredible 126 from 59 balls for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Kolkata on Sunday.
In that ballistic knock he brought up his 50 from just 20 balls. Australians have made all three of the fastest 50s scored this IPL season, with Warner joined by Chris Lynn and Aaron Finch in that list.
As further evidence of the lofty standing Australians hold in the IPL, the only three foreign captains in the competition all are from down under – Warner (Hyderabad), Smith (Pune) and Maxwell (Punjab).
Smith and Maxwell both are having fantastic seasons. The former is in the top five runscorers with 323 runs at 53 (strike rate 136). Maxwell, meanwhile, has comfortably the best strike rate (179) among the top 30 runmakers in the competition, amid a haul of 193 runs at 32. He has underbowled himself but has been very effective when he has taken the ball, conceding a miserly 6.6 runs per over while taking 3-66 from 10 overs.
There have been plenty of other Australians who have had much bigger roles with the ball and proven very effective. Perth Scorchers paceman Tye was one of the revelations of the tournament before dislocating his shoulder on Saturday, an injury which will see him take no further part in the IPL.
Despite playing only six games he is third on the wicket-taking table with 12 wickets at an amazing average of 12. What makes Tye’s efforts even more impressive is that he has given up just 6.71 runs per over, the second-best economy rate among the top 15 wicket takers.
Just like Tye, Coulter-Nile has had a huge impact in a small amount of time, taking 11 wickets from just five matches at an average of 14. Another Aussie has been among the best fast bowlers in this IPL, with Pat Cummins snaring nine wickets at 21.
Cummins has proven difficult for batsmen to get after, with his economy rate of 7.41 the third-best of any quick in the competition’s top 25 wicket takers.
Henriques, meanwhile, is continuing his blazing form in all three formats over the past year, with the finest IPL season of his career. The NSW all-rounder has smashed 200 runs at an average of 67 (strike rate 141) and is pushing his claims to make Australia’s starting XI for the upcoming Champions Trophy ODI tournament.
All of this success by Australian players would lead the casual observer to believe Australia must be one of the dominant Twenty20teams. Instead they’ve been perennial underperformers since first playing the format more than 12 years ago.
Australia have an ordinary 47-43 win-loss record in the history of T20Is. Their results have been even worse over the past two years, with an abysmal 7-9 win-loss record, including a poor showing at last year’s World T20, in which they failed to make the semi-finals.
Too often Australia have picked experimental Twenty20teams during bi-lateral series. They have shown the format no respect by regularly parachuting random players into the XI or scheduling Twenty20series at times which clashed with Test or ODI series.
Then they’ve rushed to take T20Is seriously again when the World T20 comes along only to, not surprisingly, underwhelm once more. The IPL undoubtedly has made some nations stronger in the shorter format, with the West Indies being the prime example.
England finally have allowed their players to take part in the competition with an eye to improving as a limited overs nation. Australia, meanwhile, are yet to reap the benefits of exposing their leading players to the IPL.
That, however, is their own fault. If they placed greater priority on the shortest format they would quickly become an elite Twenty20team.
This Australian Twenty20squad would have easily enough talent to win a World T20
1. David Warner (vc)
2. Aaron Finch
3. Chris Lynn
4. Steve Smith (c)
5. Glenn Maxwell
6. Ben Dunk (wk)
7. Mitch Marsh
8. James Faulkner
9. Mitchell Starc
10. Pat Cummins
11. Adam Zampa
Reserves
12. Shaun Marsh
13. Nathan Coulter-Nile
14. Travis Head
15. Michael Beer
Top ten Australian players in the IPL this season:
1. David Warner – 459 runs at 66 (strike rate 151) from nine matches.
2. Andrew Tye – 12 wickets at 12 (economy rate 6.71) from six matches.
3. Nathan Coulter-Nile – 11 wickets at 14 (economy rate 8.29) from five matches.
4. Steve Smith – 320 runs at 53 (strike rate 136) from eight matches.
5. Moises Henriques – 200 runs at 67 (strike rate 141) from eight matches.
6. Glenn Maxwell – 193 runs at 32 (strike rate 179) plus three wickets at 22 from nine matches.
7. Pat Cummins – nine wickets at 21 (economy rate 7.41) from seven matches.
8. Chris Lynn – 125 runs at 125 (strike rate 193) from two matches.
9. Shaun Marsh – 140 runs at 47 (strike rate 147) from four matches.
10. Aaron Finch – 186 runs at 27 (strike rate 168) from eight matches.
Amith
Guest
Well said Ross, Khawaja should be a shoe in for the T20 team but for some reason always gets unfair treatment
bdcrictime
Guest
I read it fairly often and enjoy the variety of news and entertainment content. The IPL undoubtedly has made some nations stronger in the shorter format, with the West Indies beinghttp://www.bdcrictime.com/" the prime example.
Ross
Guest
Khawaja in place of finch, Ben cutting in placr if Faulkner and love what NCN has done in the ipl this year
Ross
Guest
Khawaja averages 150+ in the 2015 big bash to lead the thunder to the title and plays no games last year due to international commitments so hard to see how that's swing and miss
Ross
Guest
Fantastic Amith
Amith
Guest
I think Khawaja can be an inspiration to the next generation. What we really want cricket to be is a sport that reflects the demographics of Australian society - men and women, boys and girls from all different backgrounds and Usman is certainly doing that.We don't want to rest all that responsibility on just his shoulders alone though. There are lots of players of different types of backgrounds playing in the Big Bash League and state cricket and they will have their chance in the coming years. Khawaja is just the best example of that right now
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Faulkners recent form just isn't there. But he's still young enough to turn that around and find his way back in. There's plenty of upside to Faulkner with bat and ball.
Stephen
Guest
Dissapointed with your comments Ronan as I respect your writing and think you have great articles. I was at the semi final where Khawaja got 104 against Adelaide. He needed only 24 deliveries to score the fastest 50 in his team's history, and then brought his century up from 55 deliveries with a six. Testimony to Khawaja's surge during the power-play was he'd scored 48 runs to opening partner Shane Watson's three. It was the best domestic T20 knock I have seen in a final or anywhere. Then he took out my Melbourne stars in the final and our agonising wait for BBL success continues. We have now made four semi-finals and one final in the first five editions of the Big Bash without lifting the trophy.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Yeah, he's looked really poor in the matches he's played for Australia to date. Like a completely different bowler.
Ross
Guest
Roman you need to stop confusing us, Stephen and me are different people , point here is that when Khawaja won the thunder the title and made almost 350 runs in just 4 innings he was rightly picked for Australia but only given 2 games in the World Cup, and now for him to be not in hour squad makes no sense and yes finch has a higher average but he has had a million more opportunities to get that too in both t20 and ODI
Rats
Guest
I can understand why CA meted out step-motherly treatment to T20s. Because the format is such.. You don't really need big preparation or settled team etc.. CA feels they can rely on either Warner or Smith in batting department and smart bowling and fielding is required, which Aussies are good at any given day. If CA really wants to be a dominating T20 side, an unbeatable side, they are very much capable of achieving it. Looks like they never really bothered ... I also feel, CA didn't want to given an impression to the players that the management really cares about T20. They may have thought its a distraction for players. They want their best players to be in a clear mind and know that their ultimate aim is to be a top Test and ODI side. Some of the Aussie players are already playing franchise T20 cricket with all seriousness all round the year.
Tanmoy Kar
Guest
Shaun Marsh in place of Aaron Finch, Moises Henriques in place of James Fauilkner and Nathan Coulter Nile in place of injured Mitchell Starc should come in playing XI as per my opinion.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
"Imagine having a top 5 of Khawaja, Warner, smith, Lynn and maxwell" T20I averages: Khawaja .... 27 (strike rate 132) Finch ......... 39 (strike rate 149) Straight forward choice Ron/Ross/Stephen/pseudonym.
Amith
Guest
For khawaja to be pigon holed as a test cricketer is nothing new. He got pigeon-holed when he was about 20. he came in and the way he was playing four-day cricket for nsw, he was just batting time. he was just playing the way he should be playing four-day cricket. For some reason the coach [Matthew Mott] and the selectors at the time thought that that's the way he would play one-day cricket, too, which made no sense to anyone beside them. But he showed everyone in domestic one day cricket how good he is, just a year ago he showed us his big bash form.
Ross
Guest
I just checked and he scored 335 runs in his four games across the campaign when not tied down with international commitments. He was dismissed only twice in those four knocks which included a man of tbr match 77 in thr final. Imagine having a top 5 of Khawaja, Warner, smith, Lynn and maxwell
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Spin...Spin...Spin... Spinners have been a massive part of the T20 game, and Australia has so far failed to produce any spinners who can continually produce at international level in T20 cricket. That and the selectors being too slow to realise that it didn't matter how well James Faulkner did against Pakistan, he should never be selected to play against India!
Stephen
Guest
This is exactly my point Ross, i remember at the time khawaja wasn't picked in the intial WC squad but after averaging over a 100(i think it was 175 from memory), they were forced to take him in the T20s but once again he only got 2 games only. Compare this to someone like Finch who has more then 50 games, his mistreatment at ODI level is well documented but the same applies for T20 too. He is a very capable T20 and ODI batsman and averages over 50 in domestic one day level and won the Thunder their only title ever but is still getting missed from our T20 squad which to me makes no sense.
Ross
Guest
Khawaja single handidly won the big bash for the thunder with 2 centuries and a half century in the final against the Stars at tbr MCG, it was the best T20 batting I have seen and which actually lead to a title for a team who have always come last in the ladder
Stephen
Guest
Can someone explain how khawaja is not even in the top 15 listed here, he averaged over 100 in the big bash in 2015 when Thunder took it out, didn't get to play big bash last year so that doesn't count and was opening the batting for us in the 2015 T20 world cup, surely he still gets a seat on the plane even if its as a reserve, people have very short memories.
Rellum
Roar Guru
True they chopped and changed a lot but they did not have a rank line up. All the big boys played in that series at some point and the last two games still have many players from your above lineup. The bowling was weaker than than the batting. Watson and Finch the only players to get above 50 for the 3 games.