The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are one of the wealthiest cricket boards in the world and Indian Premier League (IPL) offers the pay role what no other cricketing actions can afford. The chances of earning good pay-cheques have had an impact on Australian players on how they play the game against, feels Michael Clarke.
The Australian team have built a reputation of being the most aggressive guys on the cricket field and often tries to sledge to get under their skin. However, the current Australian have shied away from indulging in sledging especially against the Virat Kohli-led Indian team.
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If former Australian captain Michael Clarke is to be believed, the change in behaviour is due to the ‘IPL factor’. This is a startling claim made by the former Aussie cricketer who feels every opponent goes a little soft on India because they have to play with them in the IPL.
“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,” Clarke was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
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The mega auctions of IPL 2020 have witnessed the cricketers from Australia attracting huge salaries with the likes of Pat Cummins (INR 15.5 crore), Glenn Maxwell (INR 10.75 crore), Nathan Coulter-Nile (INR 8 crore) being some of the top buys. It will be interesting to see how the cricketers react to Michael Clarke’s claims.