The Australian players IPL teams rate but were overlooked by national selectors

IT seems Dan Christian can get a game anywhere in the world, except in the national T20 team but he wasn’t the only Aussie overlooked by selectors to secure an IPL contract. Who were the big winners?

Dan Christian can’t get a gig in the Australian T20 team. Picture: Getty Images

DAN Christian was the only Australian named in the ICC’s Twenty20 team of 2017.

Christian won T20 tournaments in the Caribbean and the UK, captaining Nottinghamshire to victory in the T20 Blast in September.

On Sunday, he was picked up by Ricky Ponting’s Delhi Daredevils for $291,000 in the Indian Premier League auction.

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Christian was one of 19 Australians bought by IPL teams for a touch over $18.6 million at the weekend.

But he was among seven of those players overlooked by national selectors for the 14-man Twenty20 squad to take on England and New Zealand next month.

Australia is the seventh ranked T20 team, and has played just five games in the past 12 months, for two wins and three defeats.

Only seven of the players from the last outing, in India last October which Australia won, are in the squad for the tri-series.

That’s an indication selectors aren’t quite sure what the best T20 team looks like.

The core is about right; batsmen Dave Warner, Aaron Finch, Glenn Maxwell and Chris Lynn, with D’Arcy Short a must-have after his record-breaking Big Bash exploits.

Dan Christian was picked up by Delhi Daredevils in the IPL auction. Picture: AAP

Marcus Stoinis’s power-hitting can’t be denied, Alex Carey is a good pick behind the stumps despite his IPL snub, and bowler Andrew Tye, bought for $1.4m on Sunday by Kings XI Punjab is a lock.

There are relative guesses elsewhere though, with bowlers Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, who both earned IPL contracts upwards of $1m, absent.

Big Billy Stanlake, an IPL steal at just $97,000, has loads of upside, and Kane Richardson, who didn’t enter the auction, is very serviceable.

But is Ben Dwarshius, who did get an IPL contract, the best long-term bowling option, when guys such as Ben Laughlin, who has more BBL wickets than anyone, is available?

Then there’s the conundrum with Travis Head and Adam Zampa, who play both one-day and T20 cricket for Australia, but were unwanted when the gavel went down for the final time in Bangalore.

Glenn Maxwell will earn a bumper wage in this year’s Indian Premier League. Picture: AFP

Popularity in the cashed-up Indian tournament does not in itself ensure a player is good enough to represent his country.

But with the wealth of coaching knowledge in the eight IPL teams, it’s a sign of how that player is rated.

Christian can get a game anywhere in the world, except in the national team.

He probably won’t be at his best when the next T20 World Cup is played in 2020, which could be why he was overlooked this time.

But if selectors keep picking players the rest of the world don’t rate, adding that trophy to the cabinet, the only one Australia hasn’t won, will only get harder.

THE BIG BUCKS

AUSSIE T20 SQUAD

David Warner (c) $2.4 million (Sunrisers Hyderabad)

Aaron Finch (vc) $1.2 million (Kings XI Punjab)

Ashton Agar UNSOLD

Alex Carey UNSOLD

Ben Dwarshuis $271,000 (Kings XI Punjab)

Travis Head UNSOLD

Chris Lynn $1.86 million (Kolkata Knight Riders)

Glenn Maxwell $1.75 million (Delhi Daredevils)

Kane Richardson Not in auction

D’Arcy Short $775,000 (Rajasthan Royals)

Billy Stanlake $97,000 (Sunrisers Hyderabad)

Marcus Stoinis $1.2 million (Kings XI Punjab)

Andrew Tye $1.4 million (Kings XI Punjab)

Adam Zampa UNSOLD

David Warner has earned another lucrative contract in the IPL. Picture: AFP

OTHER AUSSIES PICKED UP

Steve Smith $2.4 million (Rajasthan Royals)

Mitchell Starc $1.82 million (Kolkata Knight Riders)

Pat Cummins $1.05 million (Mumbai Indians)

Shane Watson $775,000 (Chennai Super Kings)

Ben Cutting $426,000 (Mumbai Indians)

Nathan Coulter-Nile $426,000 (Royal Challengers Bangalore)

Mitchell Johnson $388,000 (Kolkata Knight Riders)

Dan Christian $291,000 (Delhi Daredevils)

Jason Behrendorff $291,000 (Mumbai Indians)

Ben Laughlin $97,000 (Rajasthan Royals)

TOTAL AUSSIE VALUE

$18,626,000

OTHER UNSOLD AUSSIES

James Faulkner, Josh Hazlewood, Ben McDermott, Shaun Marsh, Moises Henriques, Nathan Lyon, Fawad Ahmed, Hilton Cartwright, John Hastings, Jhye Richardson, Joel Paris, Aaron Summers, Michael Neser, Jack Wildermuth.