IPL 2022: 3 Australian players who had a good season

Some of the most high-profile players in the history of the IPL have been from Australia. Since its inception, we have seen greats such as Adam Gilchrist, Shaun Marsh, Shane Watson, David Warner and many more set the league on fire.

Australia won the ICC Men's T20 World Cup last year. The biggest stars from that World Cup campaign were either retained or signed for high amounts at the IPL mega auction earlier this year. We take a look at the top 3 Australian players in this edition of the tournament.

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Australians who dazzled IPL 2022

#3 Glenn Maxwell

Glenn Maxwell was retained by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for ₹11 crores ahead of the IPL mega auction. He had a brilliant campaign for the men in red in IPL 2021. In 2022, Maxwell scored 301 runs in 13 innings at an explosive strike rate of 169. He also took 6 wickets in 24 overs at an economy rate of 6.88.

Maxwell's best performance with the bat came against the Delhi Capitals. He scored 55(34) after RCB lost their top three cheaply. His counter-attack vs Kuldeep helped Bangalore in getting the momentum back.

His best bowling spell was against the Chennai Super Kings - 2/22 in 4 overs when RCB were defending 173 at the MCA. He picked up the crucial wickets of Uthappa and Rayudu and was instrumental in yet another RCB win.

#2 Josh Hazlewood

Josh Hazlewood had a great campaign when CSK won the IPL in 2021. However, he was released ahead of the IPL mega auction. He was signed by RCB for ₹7.75 crore. As expected, he was the leader of the pace attack for Bangalore.

Hazlewood picked up 20 wickets in 12 matches at an average of 18.85 and an economy rate of 8.11. This was the first time an Australian fast bowler had a great campaign for Bangalore since Starc in 2015.

Hazlewood's best bowling spell came against the Lucknow Super Giants. He returned figures of 4/25 in 4 overs, picking up the wickets of De Kock, Pandey, Badoni and Stoinis. RCB successfully defended their first innings total of 181 runs at the DY Patil Stadium.

#1 David Warner

David Warner is arguably one of the greatest batsmen in the history of the Indian Premier League. However, he was unceremoniously sacked by SRH midway through the 2021 season. He was also released by the Sunrisers management. The Delhi Capitals signed Warner for just ₹6.25 crores at the IPL mega auction.

Warner did what he does best in the shortest format in IPL 2022 - scoring runs consistently at a healthy strike rate. He scored 432 runs in 12 innings at an average of 48 and a strike rate of 151, with five half-centuries to his name.

He had multiple impact performances at the top of the order for DC. However, his standout performance came against his former franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad. He scored 92*(58) as Delhi posted 207 runs in the first innings.

His innings was crucial after Delhi lost the early wickets of Mandeep and Marsh. Pant also departed after playing a quick-fire cameo. Warner's partnership with Rovman Powell (67 off 35 balls) set the tone for Delhi who posted a huge first innings total. They won the match comfortably by 21 runs.