An Appraisal: How the Aussie Cricketers Fared at the IPL?-by Alex Malcolm
Source:Thuppahis
Alex Malcolm in ESPNcriciinfo, 20 March 2024, whose title reads thus: “Aussies at the IPL: Who starred, who chipped in, who flopped across the regular season?”
A handful of Australia’s players have dominated the IPL while others have had lean tournaments.
Travis Head has been Australia’s stand-out performer at the IPL this season even with his first-ball duck in Sunrisers Hyderabad’s final regular season game against Punjab Kings. Head was the third-highest runscorer in the regular season with 533 runs from 12 innings including a century and four fifties at a staggering strike-rate of 201.13. His opening partner, Abhishek Sharma, was the only other player to pass 350 runs while striking at over 200. According to ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats, Head had the second-highest total batting impact across the tournament behind Virat Kohli.
Jake Fraser-McGurk trumped Head in terms of strike-rate and batting impact per game as he produced one of the most extraordinary debut IPL seasons by any player. His 330 runs from nine innings with four half-centuries at an eye-watering strike-rate of 234.04 was even more remarkable considering he was a replacement player who might not have played for Delhi Capitals at all without the season-ending hamstring injury to Mitchell Marsh. Fraser-McGurk became the first player in IPL history to register two 15-ball fifties and scored another off 19 balls. Capitals will no doubt retain him ahead of the mega-auction where he could otherwise fetch an extraordinary price.
In a tournament dominated by batters, Pat Cummins has had an outstanding season with the ball and as captain despite the numbers not leaping off the page. He is equal 13th on the wicket-takers list with 15 but only two fast bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah and Tushar Deshpande, had better economy rates and the latter played six matches in Chennai where the overall scoring was lower and slower. Cummins did an excellent job as captain given he had never led in T20s before the IPL and he also made some contributions with the bat when needed.
SOLID CONTRIBUTORS
AUSTRALIAN BATTING AT IPL 2024
Cameron Green conversely has made a barnstorming finish to the IPL after being dropped earlier in the tournament and made an unfamiliar role his own at Royal Challengers Bengaluru to help them pinch a playoff berth. He made key contributions with either bat or ball in six of his last seven matches after returning to the team as RCB won six of them. He made scores of 37 not out, 46, 32 not out and 38 not out striking at 170.21 in the middle order in those seven games, after striking at 107.93 in his first five games. He took nine wickets for the tournament at an excellent economy rate of 8.82, having bowled in all 12 games that he played.
Finch: Warner will admit he had a really poor IPL
AUSTRALIAN BOWLING AT IPL 2024
PAT CUMMINS | 13 | 15 | 32.00 | 9.23 |
---|---|---|---|---|
MITCHELL STARC | 12 | 12 | 33.00 | 11.36 |
CAMERON GREEN | 12 | 9 | 30.55 | 8.82 |
GLENN MAXWELL | 9 | 6 | 21.50 | 8.06 |
MARCUS STOINIS | 14 | 4 | 31.50 | 9.00 |
SPENCER JOHNSON | 5 |