David Warner and Mitchell Starc dealt crushing blow in $14 million IPL development
Several Aussies were not retained by their IPL franchises.
Retired Australian batsman David Warner and current stars Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell have been brutally ditched by their Indian Premier League sides. Warner was not retained by the Delhi Capitals days after his 'offer' to come out of retirement for the Test team was swatted away.
Warner had a horror IPL year in 2024, where he battled a hand injury and was eventually replaced by young Aussie batter Jake Fraser-McGurk at the top of the order, who lit up the tournament. The retired batsman will now go to the IPL auction where he'll hope he is picked up by a franchise so he can remain in the lucrative league.
While Maxwell and Starc - who both returned to the IPL on bumper contracts last season - were victims of their franchise's mass-clean out. Last year Maxwell was dropped after a few lacklustre performances, while Starc largely failed to live up to his $4.43 million contract - the biggest ever handed out in the IPL. The 34-year-old went wicketless in three of his first four games for Kolkata but finished the season strong helping the Knight Riders reach the final in his first IPL in more than a decade.
After taking seven wickets in his Sheffield Shield outing at the MCG last week Starc said he’d "heard nothing" from the franchise. And he was confirmed as not being retained on Thursday.
Cameron Green not available for next year's IPL
There was a total of 14 Australians released back to the pool, with contracts worth almost a combined $14 million. That list includes Cameron Green, who also had a $3.1m deal with Royal Challengers Bengaluru but has been sidelined by a back injury that will force him out for up to six months.
Once the highest-paid Australian in the IPL, Green was considered a chance to play in the tournament as a specialist batter when he booked in for surgery last month. Royal Challengers Bengaluru were keen on retaining the 25-year-old despite dropping him during the 2024 tournament, where he earned a $3.15m contract.
But the franchise confirmed overnight that Green would not be available for next year's tournament. "There was one other player we certainly would've retained, that's Cameron Green. But unfortunately he's out of IPL due to injury," said RCB director of cricket Mo Bobat.
Only Pat Cummins and Travis Head, who play at Sunrisers Hyderabad, were retained for the next season, with Cummins set to captain the team again. They will earn $3.66m and $1.22m respectively in 2025. Head was the fourth-top run-scorer in the IPL in 2024 and Cummins took 18 wickets in 16 matches at 31.44 for runners-up Sunrisers. With franchises able to retain a maximum of five incumbent players, the remaining Australians who played IPL in 2024 will need to go to auction to remain in the league.
Australian's not retained by IPL franchises:
Mitchell Starc (Kolkata Knight Riders, $4.42m)
Cameron Green (Royal Challengers Bengaluru, $3.15m)
Glenn Maxwell (Royal Challengers Bengaluru, $2m)
Spencer Johnson (Gujarat Titans, $1.78m)
Marcus Stoinis (Lucknow Super Giants, $1.7m)
Tim David (Mumbai Indians, $1.53m)
Mitch Marsh (Delhi Capitals, $1.2m)
David Warner (Delhi Capitals, $1.16m)
Jhye Richardson (Delhi Capitals, $892,000)
Matthew Wade (Gujarat Titans, $446,000)
Adam Zampa (Rajasthan Royals, $270,000)
Ashton Turner (Lucknow Super Giants, $178,000)
Jason Behrendorff (Mumbai Indians, $135,000)
Nathan Ellis (Punjab Kings, $135,000)
with newswire
