If you’re keen to watch Aussies in action then check out the Royal Challengers Bangalore, who have five Australians in their squad and look likely to play three in their starting XI.
Steve Smith will rebound with a vengeance
Pundits, fans and, most pointedly, IPL franchise owners were quick to sour on Smith after his poor 2020 IPL campaign. The former Aussie captain never built any momentum last season and averaged just 26 at a strike rate of 131 for the Rajasthan Royals.
That one underwhelming campaign was enough to seemingly erase from many people’s memories his past excellence over a long IPL career. In his previous seven seasons he averaged 37 at a strike rate of 129, very similar IPL numbers to those of Indian megastar Virat Kohli.
Yet that 2020 season tanked Smith’s IPL reputation so badly that at this year’s auction he earnt one-seventh of the price tag of New Zealand quick Kyle Jamieson, who’s flopped outside of Kiwi domestic T20s, averaging 70 in eight international T20s.
Smith doesn’t even seem to be guaranteed a spot in the starting XI of his new team, the Delhi Capitals. But if and when he does get an opportunity this season, expect his pride to be hurt and his determination to be extreme. The Australian champion has underlined time and again that he’s most lethal when he’s being underestimated and has a point to ram home.
Smith’s also been in hot white-ball form for Australia since the end of his ball-tampering ban two years ago. In that time he’s averaged 40 at a strike rate of 140 in international T20s and averaged 50 at a strike rate of 97 in ODIs.
Riley Meredith will get a rude awakening
Riley Meredith fetched a massive $1.4 million for what will be his debut IPL season. He’ll soon learn that express pace alone doesn’t trouble the world’s best batsmen. And in the IPL the young Aussie tearaway will bowl to extraordinary talents like Kohli, Warner, Smith, AB de Villiers, Rohit Sharma, Jos Buttler, Rishabh Pant, Quinton de Kock, Andre Russell, Keiron Pollard and Kane Williamson.
Those champions, as well as many other IPL batsmen, are brilliant at exploiting pace on the ball. To challenge such batsmen, express quicks need to couple startling speed with unerring accuracy and deceiving changeups.
Meredith is yet to prove he is such a well-rounded paceman. Certainly he produces wicket-taking deliveries and rushes batsmen by consistently bowling in the range of 145 to 150 kilometres per hour. His precision and variety are not great strengths though, and leading IPL batsmen will punish Meredith’s errors as well as lining him up if he can’t keep them guessing with subtle changes of pace.
Glenn Maxwell will end his horrendous run of IPL form
It makes little sense. Why has Glenn Maxwell been so consistently excellent for Australia when playing in Asia yet floundered so often in the IPL? The dynamic all-rounder has been imperious in limited-overs international cricket in Asia, averaging 41 at an insane strike rate of 165 in international T20s and averaging 38 at a strike rate of 123 in ODIs
Yet for years now he’s greatly underperformed in the IPL regardless of whether that league’s been hosted in India or in the UAE, as it was last year. Maxwell has averaged less than 20 with the bat in four of his last five IPL seasons. That includes his worst-ever campaign last year when he not only averaged a paltry 15 but had a terribly low strike rate of 101 and infamously didn’t strike a single six in the whole tournament.
Maybe I’m crazy for predicting Maxwell to regain the form that saw him dominate the IPL in 2017 and in 2014, when he was named the player of the tournament. In that season he smashed an incredible 48 sixes in 16 matches while scoring at a jaw-dropping strike rate of 188.
Maxwell is clearly a better batsman now than he was back in 2014. He has been Australia’s most valuable international T20 player in the past five years, averaging 40 at a strike rate of 165 in that time. He’s also now in career-best ODI form, averaging 48 at a strike rate of 145 in the past two years.
I’m heavily biased given Maxwell is my favourite batsman in the world, but I feel the dam is going to burst for him very soon in the IPL. I think 2021 is the year this league will once again be flooded by his brilliance.
Contingent of Aussies in the IPL
Steve Smith, Riley Meredith, Glenn Maxwell, David Warner, Marcus Stoinis, Pat Cummins, Ben Cutting, Chris Lynn, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jhye Richardson, Moises Henriques, Andrew Tye, Daniel Sams, Adam Zampa, Daniel Christian and Kane Richardson.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Well, my man Maxwell is killing it in the IPL -leading runscorer so far and at a blazing strike rate, as usual.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
The thing with someone like Maxwell is that he's had some bad IPL seasons, but everyone knows what he can do, and not just with the bat, but he's more than handy with the ball and is one of the best fielders on the planet. Obviously his batting is the main thing for him, and he'll need to improve on his 2020 results but there's enough evidence that he's been playing well to suggest he almost certainly will. I also think that the fact the IPL was in the UAE last year, where conditions were a bit different, might have some teams thinking that form last year might be a little less indicative than if last year had been in India.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Comparing Williamson to Maxwell is ridiculous. Williamson can be a useful T20 batsman, but ONLY if he's surrounded by guys more like Maxwell so he can sort of "anchor" the innings while they go ballistic around him. If you just had a team full of Williamson's, then they'd be constantly needing to try and defend 140 like totals. But certainly, anywhere that you have an auction process for players like this will result in ridiculous disparity of pay. It can just come down to having a player who multiple teams believe fits a spot that they really need to fill, and there aren't just lots of players who they think might fill that spot as well, then you get the bidding war for that player and massive money paid for them.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
I think Starc has left himself out of the IPL Auction the last few years. Hales very impressive BBL you'd think might have earned him a decent IPL contract, but apparently not.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
Sounds about right for Mexwell, but Smith has the potential to be better this year.
Ravi
Roar Rookie
Yes. Maxwell had 13 innings, just 101 runs SR 101. DID NOT HIT A SINGLE 6 in IPL 2020. Smith was crap too. There's a video of his old franchise planning to put in 1 bid to suck another team into bidding for Smith at the IPL auction. It worked & there was no interest after their bid. Will Smith shine? His old team doesn't think so.
Bobbo7
Guest
Williamson was carrying an elbow injury apparently and just sat out the whole Bangladesh series. Yes Conway very good and no, no IPL gig. But strangely a kid called Finn from NZ has got into the IPL because of an injury... played three internationals and has reputation as a genuine top order tonker. Why you Would not go for Conway first is beyond me.
Jak
Guest
Williamson was rubbish in the Aus v NZ series. That Conway bloke however...... Did he get a gig?
Simoc
Guest
Having said that I would pick Maxwell over Smith every time in my T20 team.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
Did he play last year?
Nyang
Roar Rookie
I was in India for work in 2016 during IPL. Maxwell was everywhere from cakes being named after him to cocktails at the airport. Even shirts with his name spelt wrongly “ Mexwell” were selling like crazy. He was on adds on local TV promoting phones, computers. Maybe it is the franchises marketing/money making that has him worth the $ at auction because they can make it back through merchandise and if/when he performs is a bonus. Saying this while still believing that he warrants his billing as an all rounder in any team.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
The next million dollar marketing shirt came along!
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
It has to be fairly obvious by now that the IPL auction isn't a recognisable indicator of talent merely an ADHD bid for short term marketing. Sure the money goes to the player who can then sit on the sidelines for the greater part of a month because a couple of bad games had a coach requiring to play another of the limited international options, but the cash laden franchises have shown they are willing to bid in a frenzy for virtual no names with no real pedigree. Good luck to the players, sure they want to play and prove their worth, but a million bucks for a mid 20 something to essentially train for a month with experienced international coaches and players is a nice earner when looked back on five years on and you own your home!
Peter
Roar Rookie
His IPL last year wasn't spectacular. One average season and you could well be dropped, especially if you're occupying a position high up the order. Harsh maybe but there's some decent talent around.
Bobbo7
Guest
The IPL price tags are and have always been a joke. Maxwell to date does not justify his price tag. Jaimeson gets three million despite having never really played T20 cricket and his outings to date have been poor. Williamson top scored in the 2018 IPL, averages 39 in the IPL, the best batsman in the world right now get $550k or so. He is a better T20 player than Maxwell despite the Maxwell flare (and I do love Maxwell).
Ron
Guest
Wonder why teams keeps picking Maxwell but they leave out Roy or Alex Hales or even teary Starc? It’s just unfair they pick up too many Aussies and West Indians but skip Sri Lankan’s.
Simoc
Guest
It's pretty amazing that Maxwell can perform so poorly, let go and still command a huge price, compared to Smith who really wasn't wanted but picked up because he was going so cheap. It's hard to see a bowler like Meredith doing well ever in the top league unless he can move the ball. If he was 10kmh faster aggressively bowling straight would be all he needs at the top level. That fraction of a second can catch the best out.
Nyang
Roar Rookie
He has had laser surgery on his eyes after the NZ tour so I assume is still recovering. But yes did not get picked up by any franchise at the auction.
Tom
Had a woeful tournament last season so RCB let him go
Paul
Roar Guru
'm not making excuses but I wonder if Smith was one of those guys who really struggled with the confinements imposed through the bio-security measures in last year's IPL? I thought his past 12 months has been okay with occasional flashes of Steve Smith brilliance. Agreed he & Maxwell will do way better this time round. Meredith has a great opportunity to learn, given the squad he's playing for has so many great players and ex-players as coaches. Lot's of Australians as well with Henriques, Jhye Richardson, etc there to offer help. Will he live up to the million dollar price tag? Probably not, but that doesn't necessarily mean this stint in the IPL will be a failure. If he comes back to Australia a better white ball bowler, CA will be grateful someone else spent the time & money to improve him.