IPL deals main reason behind Australia not sledging Virat Kohli post-2015: Michael Clarke

Former Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke was a big name in cricket during his playing days. However, he has only played six matches as far as the IPL is concerned. The 2015 World Cup winning captain now believes that a majority of the current Australian cricketers have gone soft because of the financial power that India has over the game of cricket through the IPL. Here is what he recently said about the same.

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Michael Clarke, who appears as an analyst on a morning sports show, was quoted by Fox Sports as he said that over the years, the Australian team has gone soft in its approach towards India. The Australian team of the 2000s was notorious for the constant banter and sledging that it subjected its opponents to. But Clarke feels that the players do not play that aggressively against India anymore. Clarke credited this change to the fact that the IPL is a massive money-making machine where most Indian players are captains. Since these Indian captains are involved in the IPL bidding process, the Australian players may choose to play it safe.

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Clarke then went on to mention how players may not want to sledge Virat Kohli because they might want to be picked by the Indian captain-led Royal Challengers Bangalore and earn a lot of money for their six weeks in the IPL. Australian players have been in high demand during the IPL over the years and it was very evident even in the 2020 IPL Auctions where Pat Cummins became the second-most expensive player to be ever sold in an IPL auction.

Cummins was picked by the Kolkata Knight Riders for ₹15.5 crore. Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore picked up Australian white ball captain Aaron Finch for ₹4.40 crore and pacer Kane Richardson yet again for ₹4 crore. Kohli and Richardson have played for RCB previously, sharing a good bond and another common interest in adopting a plant-based diet completely.

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The Kings XI Punjab also bought back Glenn Maxwell for a whopping ₹10.75 crore. Michael Clarke's recent comments echoed Maxwell's former Kings XI Punjab teammate Virender Sehwag's, who had also claimed in 2019 that Australian players would prefer to not sledge Indians because they have the IPL to play for.

Under MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli made waves in 2012 when he made an expletive hand gesture towards the crowd at the SCG. The Indian captain's relationship with Australia has always appeared to be very polarising. In the 2019 Australia vs India Test series, the mics even picked up banter between Australia captain Tim Paine and Aaron Finch as the duo reflected on why the latter has never played for the RCB in the IPL.

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