5 Players Who Kept Country Ahead Of "Lucrative" IPL

Five Players Who Kept Country Ahead Of Lucrative IPL;??Representing the National Team is always a great honour for a cricketing individual. However, few individuals changed their mindset with the money flowing in the franchise cricket. Quite a few players called curtains very early in their career to play franchise cricket while few of them made themselves unavailable for the national events to participate in cash-league tournaments.

There is no denying to the fact that franchises pay heftier cheque compared to the national cricket board. It also attracts many players, in fact, the most celebrated players of the game as well to leave the national team and play in T20 leagues across the globe. However, a section of players always gave priority to their country rather than featuring in the lucrative leagues including the Indian Premier League, where they would have ended up with millions in their bank accounts.

We at Cricket Addictor will take a look at five players who kept country ahead of lucrative IPL:

5. Liam Livingstone:

In the current era of cricketers, we often come across players wanting to play for money rather than preferring to play for his/her own country. However, Liam Livingstone is one of those exceptions, who prefered playing County Championship rather than participating in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League 2020. He also rated Test Cricket higher than the limited-overs cricket.

SHORTS

View More

Your daily dose of cricket!

Loading...

The 26-year-old Liam Livingstone is at the peak stage of his career in white-ball cricket; still, he opted to play for his county side rather than making himself available for Indian Premier League. He got the taste of IPL In 2019 edition and did decent enough to make a name for him. With his latest records in white-ball cricket, Livingstone would have easily fetched a hefty deal in IPL 2020 auction. But, he preferred to choose county season to break into England’s Test side.

Read More – IPL 2020 Auction Details

In his debut season, Liam Livingstone appeared in four games for Rajasthan Royals. Though it took a couple of games for him to settle in the side, he showed his calibre by smashing a quickfire 44 against Mumbai Indians.

4. Mitchell Marsh:

The right-handed all-rounder has always been a star material in the T20 format of the game. Still, he opted to play domestic tournaments to represent the Australian team across the formats. He achieved his goal by performing exceptionally in local matches. With the all-rounders fetching rich dividends, Mitchell Marsh would have bagged quite a few million dollars in his account, but he chose otherwise.

Even before he made his international debut, he was roped in by the IPL side Deccan Chargers in 2010. He became a bit of a T20 agent at a very young age. He was drafted into the Pune Warriors squad in 2011, and he was with them until 2013. However, that was the last time he featured in IPL, as he always preferred playing domestic games since then.

In total, he played 20 IPL games in his career, in which, he scored 225 runs alongside 20 wickets. Though the numbers look ordinary, he became a lot matured in the last five years to become the best in business for Australia.

3. Glenn Maxwell:

The star of Australia, Glenn Maxwell was the talk of the town in 2013, having signed with the Mumbai Indians for $1 million. He was transferred to Kings XI Punjab in the 2014 edition, and struck form immediately, scoring seven fifties in the tournament, including three scores in the nineties. Glenn Maxwell, in partnership with David Miller, became the pillars for Kings XI Punjab.

A stalwart in the format, Maxwell had skipped the 2019 edition of the IPL to find his form ahead of the ICC World Cup 2019. He played full county season in England to acclimatise to the conditions ahead of the prestigious tournament. If he had opted to play for IPL, Glenn Maxwell would have easily fetched massive numbers during the auctions.

Recently, he took an indefinite break and made a return to the game ahead of IPL 2020 auction. It would be interesting to see how things would turn out for Glenn Maxwell in the mega day in Kolkata on December 19.

2. Aaron Finch:

The skipper of Australia in the limited-overs is one of those cricketers, who sacrificed IPL contract to come good for his national team. After being appointed as the skipper of the group, Aaron Finch had sacrificed million dollars to deliver his best for the Australia Cricket Team.

In the T20 Internationals, Finch has scored nearly 1900 runs in 58 matches with two scintillating hundreds and 11 half-centuries. The thing to notice here is his strike-rate, which is above 150, and that is quite remarkable in this format. In the ODIs, he averages above 40 and has scored 4559 runs in 115 innings with 15 tons and 24 fifties.

Even in IPL, Finch has played 75 matches and scored over 1700 runs with 13 fifties. All those scintillating numbers would have fetched him incredible price during auctions. However, he opted to not be the part of IPL 2019 in order to be fresh for ICC World Cup 2019. However, he recently revealed that he will be available for IPL 2020.

1. Mitchell Starc:

Mitchell Starc is one of those fast bowlers, who has got an enormous fanbase in India. He is one of the few fast bowlers to be the role model for budding cricketers in India. The Australian fast bowler had always commanded reasonable price whenever his name was in bidding for IPL.

Starc was picked up by KKR for a whopping $1.8 million but missed the 2018 season with a leg injury sustained during the South Africa tour by Australia. In 2019, he withdrew himself from the auction to come good for Australia in ICC World Cup 2019. The left-arm pacer has struggled with multiple injuries in recent times which compelled him to opt-out. The decision yielded dividends as he returned as the highest wicket-taker despite Australia bowing out from the semifinals losing to England.

This time, he might be available for the full season unless he picks up an injury again. The left-arm pacer can be useful with the new ball and can be dangerous during the death overs, especially, with his highly accurate yorkers. Mitchell Starc could be a big draw and Royal Challengers Bangalore, his former IPL team, could eye him as they have released Dale Steyn.