Is Tom Moody set to scupper Warner’s T20 World Cup preparations?

Australians can play in the IPL ahead of the T20 World Cup, but David Warner needs to be picked by Hyderabad’s cricket boss Tom Moody.

David Warner, right, with Muttiah Muralitharan, VVS Laxman and Tom Moody

If 1999 World Cup hero Tom Moody holds his line, David Warner’s warm-up for October’s T20 World Cup will involve sitting on the bench watching the second half of the IPL play out.

It’s not exactly the best situation for Warner who, like most senior Australian players who are in the IPL, sat out the most recent T20 series in the West Indies and Bangladesh.

Australian cricket has, with some reluctance, come to the position that the best preparation for its stars is to attend the resuming IPL as a planned series against Afghanistan has been abandoned.

While some will thunder that the players have turned their back on the Sheffield Shield season as they cash in at the world’s richest tournament, the reality is that the IPL is the best warm-up — and it doesn’t hurt that they get paid overs to do it.

And, besides, nobody in Australian cricket has ever risked the wrath of India or players by barring anyone from attending the tournament.

They brought them home early from the first IPL season and have made half-hearted noises behind closed doors in contract meetings, but ultimately accepted that you don’t poke the bear.

Anyway, if the players stay at home next month the domestic calendar holds no joy.

There may be some domestic one-dayers, but probably not and there is nobody on the planet who thinks the Shield is appropriate preparation for a T20 tournament in the UAE.

The domestic schedule is already in a state.

The Australian can reveal that NSW is looking at flying its players to Howard Springs, where they will be subject to two weeks quarantine before the summer starts.

The options are hard hotel quarantine with no escape or the quarantine facility where they won’t be allowed to train, but will have 4x2m decks just like the Olympians where they can presumably practice a front foot defence and wave to each other.

Those that want to take their families have been asked to indicate as such.

It must be grim reading for players trapped in Adelaide hotels rooms, where the South Australian government backflipped on an agreement to allow them to quarantine and play.

So, stars like Warner, Glenn Maxwell, Dan Christian, Steve Smith, Riley Meredith and Marcus Stoinis are going back to complete the IPL tournament that was abandoned due to India’s Covid-19 crisis.

Warner faces a fascinating situation. Considered one of the finest T20 players ever and certainly one of the IPL’s, he was axed as captain and dropped from the Sunrisers Hyderabad team before the tournament wound up.

It was a controversial move and has caused tensions between he and director of cricket Moody.

Warner was not having a great time of it in the early part of the series and was criticised for a slow half century, but had been compensating for a batting line-up that fell away quickly once he was dismissed.

Moody, who is also head of Sri Lankan cricket, is in an invidious position with the players due to arrive early next month.

Many of the IPL stars pulled out of Australia’s recent white ball series against the West Indies and Bangladesh and by doing so most had their reputations enhanced by the performance of the squad in those disappointing matches.

The IPL is the best T20 tournament in the world and while it didn’t sit well with many in Australian cricket it is the best preparation — fatigue aside — for the World Cup.

Maxwell — the sort of player who could win a tournament for his country — will be guided by Simon Katich alongside Dan Christian, Kane Richardson and Adam Zampa at the Royal Challenger’s Bangalore. Should they all choose to go.

Hanging around Virat Kohli is not a bad way to warm up.

Stoinis will be taken in by Ricky Ponting at Delhi, who also have a contract with Steve Smith. The former Australian captain is carrying an elbow injury and no guarantee to return.

Pat Cummins is unlikely to go back to Kolkata, as he and his partner are expecting their first child.

Ponting is sure that the IPL is the best preparation for players.

“Those guys that haven’t played for three or four months now, they need to get back into the groove of playing high-quality cricket against the best players in the world,” Ponting said on SEN radio in conversation with Australia Test captain Tim Paine, who also endorsed the players going to the IPL.

“No doubt it‘s their best preparation to be in those exact conditions, playing in probably the strongest domestic T20 tournament in the world.

“All the best players in the world will be there … and I’m not just saying it because I want some of the Australian players there at the Delhi Capitals.”