Michael Clarke feels IPL made Australia go soft on India

Former Australia captain Michael Clarke believes that the Indian Premier League (IPL) is the reason why Australian players have taken a softer approach when playing against India.

“Everybody knows how powerful India are in regards to the financial part of the game, internationally or domestically with the Indian Premier League (IPL),” the former cricketer said while speaking with Big Sports Breakfast. “I feel that Australian cricket, and probably every other team over a little period, went the opposite way and actually sucked up to India. They were too scared to sledge Virat Kohli or the other Indian players because they had to play with them in April.”

He felt that the Australian players abandoned their style of play in exchange of being picked in IPL franchises. “Name a list of 10 players and they are bidding for these Australian players to get into their IPL team. The players were like: ‘I’m not going to sledge Kohli, I want him to pick me for Bangalore so I can make my $1 million for my six weeks’.”

Clarke said that they are not used to seeing the softer side of Australian cricket.

Australian legends such as David Warner, Steve Smith, Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath, Shane Watson and Glenn Maxwell all have been part of India’s premium 20-over competition.