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The excitement for IPL 2021 is gathering substantial pace and the franchises have followed suit by naming their list of retained players ahead of the mini-auction. In a bid to strengthen their ranks, the eight franchises have made some interesting decisions with respect to retentions and releases. Since several overseas players are now set to go under the hammer on February 18, we take a look at 3 Australian crickets who might struggle to find a team in the auction.
1. Aaron Finch
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The Australian limited-overs captain has been a journeyman in the IPL since making his debut in 2010. Finch has changed franchises as many as seven times and last turned up for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Despite Virat Kohli’s men reaching the playoffs, Finch struggled to make the desired impact and was subsequently released. Although he has a glowing reputation in international cricket, Finch has been a shadow of himself in the Indian Premier League and it remains highly unlikely that any of the franchises would want to take a gamble on him. Finch’s performance in BBL doesn’t bode well either as Melbourne Renegades finished bottom under his leadership this term.
2. Billy Stanlake
The towering seamer struggled to make an impact with RCB during his debut season in the IPL back in 2017. Although he made four appearances for SRH since moving there the following year, Stanlake has failed to carve out a place for himself within the franchise. Notably, he did not make a single appearance in each of the last two editions of the IPL. As such, SRH opted to release Stanlake ahead of the 2021 edition and it remains to be seen if he can find himself a new franchise owing to his relative inexperience in the competition. To make matters worse, Stanlake endured a forgetful BBL campaign as well.
3. Nathan Coulter-Nile
There is no denying the attributes Nathan Coulter-Nile brings to any T20 side. The all-rounder can bowl four overs and is more than just handy with the bat down the order. However, injuries have troubled him recently. After being restricted to just seven appearances for Mumbai Indians in their IPL winning campaign in UAE, Coulter-Nile also missed out the majority of BBL due to another injury. There were glimpses of his quality in both tournaments, but since he is an overseas acquisition, IPL franchises could fret over his fitness. MI have opted to release both him and James Pattinson, but the latter at least picked 11 wickets in IPL 2020. Coulter-Nile might find it hard to fetch a buyer.