The Indian Premier League has seen many Australians plying their trade. The likes of Matthew Hayden, the late Andrew Symonds, current Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting, David Warner, Mike Hussey have all been part of this cash rich extravaganza.
The list is quite long. Here we would look at 4 seasons where Australian openers played a significant role for their respective franchises.
#1 IPL Season 1, 2008 – Shaun Marsh was that Australian opener who left IPL smoking
The newborn baby of the world’s richest cricket board and brainchild of Lalit Modi, the Indian Premier League was an instant hit among the fans in India who are crazy and downright passionate about their cricket. Amongst the many who set the stage on fire in the inaugural edition was the Australian opener Shaun Marsh who turned out for the Kings XI Punjab. The left handed batter, son of former Aussie great Geoff Marsh, Shaun was still uncapped for his National Side.
He was consistent throughout the tournament and ended with a total of 616 from 11 matches. His average was an astonishing 68.44 at a strike rate of 139.68. He scored 5 half centuries and a century in this edition. His efforts won him the Orange Cap for the season, awarded to batters who got the most runs in a season of IPL.
#2 IPL Season 8, 2015 – David Warner was another Australian opener to bring out the big guns
The Aussie opener started his IPL journey with the Delhi franchise in 2009. He was picked up by the Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2014, for whom he has been extremely prolific. He made his impact felt for the SRH in the following season in 2015 where he scored 562 runs of 14 matches. He averaged 43.23 at a strike rate of 156.54.
His highest score was 91 against the Kolkata Knight Riders in a rain affected match in which SRH defeated the Knights by 16 runs via the D/L method. His efforts earned him the Orange Cap for the season.
#3 IPL Season 9, 2016 – David Warner became the only Australian opener to rule two IPL seasons
Following a great season in 2015, David Warner was handed the captaincy of the Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016. This season saw Warner’s success both as a batter and a Captain. He led them to the IPL Crown in his very first season as the Captain.
He scored an astounding 848 runs in 17 matches at an average of 60.57. His Strike rate all through the season was 151.42. His highest score was 93 off 58 balls against the Gujarat Lions. He missed out on the Orange cap in this season though, losing out to Virat Kohli who had a great season of his own scoring 973 runs for the RCB.
#4 IPL Season 10, 2017 – David Warner made a hattrick of his swashbuckling run-scoring spree
David Warner recovered his Orange Cap which he had lost in the previous season by topping the run getters’ list again. He scored 641 runs in 14 matches at an average of 58.27.
His highest score of 126 off 59 deliveries was against the KKR again. His strike rate throughout the season was 141.81. The Sunrisers though, crashed out in the playoffs.
