'Too Scared' Aussie didn't sledge Virat Kohli to protect IPL deals: Michael Clarke

Former Australian skipper and World Cup winner Michael Clarke has come up with a statement regarding IPL and Australian players. According to him, the Australian players were too scared to sledge Indian players in their last tour down-under.

Here’s what Michael Clarke had to say

India won the 4-match Test series down under in 2018 by 2-1. History books had something new to write as this was India’s first-ever Test series victory against Australia in Australia. There’s no doubt that IPL is the richest league going around and players do tend to get themselves involve in this cash-rich league.

Michael Clarke sat with Big Sports Breakfast and said that Tim Paine and his men were “too scared” to sledge the Indian players.

“Everybody knows how powerful India are in regards to the financial part of the game, internationally or domestically with the IPL, I feel that Australian cricket, and probably every other team over a little period, went the opposite and actually sucked up to India. They were too scared to sledge Kohli or the other Indian players because they had to play with them in April.”

He further added;

“Name a list of ten players and they are bidding for these Australian players to get into their IPL team. The players were like: ‘I’m not going to sledge Kohli, I want him to pick me for Bangalore so I can make my $1 million US for my six weeks’. I feel like that’s where Australia went through that little phase where our cricket became a little bit softer or not as hard as we’re accustomed to seeing.”

Australians were once again the big buys in this year IPL auctions

In the IPL auctions held in December 2019 in Kolkata, once again the Aussie stars made a big impact by drawing hefty amounts. Pat Cummins was the biggest buy of the season as he was acquired for 15.5 Crores by Kolkata Knight Riders.

Apart from Cummins, all-rounders Glenn Maxwell (10.75 Crores to Kings XI Punjab), Marcus Stoinis (4.5 Crores to Delhi Capitals) and national limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch (4.40 Crores to Royal Challengers Bangalore).