Former Australian captain Aaron Finch picked the top 5 Australian cricketers to play in the IPL, while he ignored Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Starc.
Australian players have always made a big impact in the IPL since the beginning of the competition. Australian great Shane Warne once led Rajasthan Royals to the title for the first time in the history of the competition. The second captain to win the IPL was also Warne’s former Australian teammate.
In the current season of IPL, many former IPL players have been seen in new roles, like Shane Watson in coaching the KKR team and Aaron Finch in the commentary panel of Star Sports. When he was asked to pick the top 5 Australian cricketers in the IPL, he made some surprising picks.
Aaron Finch picks former CSK star as greatest Australian batsman in IPL
Former Australian captain Aaron Finch, who led the Australian team to the World Cup title in 2021, recently gave an opinion on the 5 best Australian players in the history of the competition.
The former star batsman, who has played for franchises like Gujarat Lions and Punjab Kings on previous occasions, was named by MR Cricket, Michael Hussey as one of the top 5 Australian stars in the history of the tournament. The batsman was praised for his spectacular IPL win with Chennai Super Kings and the number of runs he scored while playing for CSK and MI.
His best season came for CSK as he scored 733 runs in a season, which was one of the most runs scored in a season at that time, before his record was surpassed by Virat Kohli among Indian batsmen and David Warner among overseas batsmen.
Shane Watson and David Warner were named among Finch’s top 5 Australian players in the IPL.
After this, Aaron Finch selected two Australian fast bowlers in his list. This also includes one of the recent players, Josh Hazlewood, who performed brilliantly for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the last two seasons.
They also picked former Mumbai Indians fast bowler Mitchell Johnson, a left-arm fast bowler who had three winning seasons with the Mumbai-based franchise. Johnson, often described as one of the most lethal fast bowlers of modern times, was known as a wicket-taking machine for MI along with the great Lasith Malinga.
Aaron Finch then singled out former Australian teammates Shane Watson and David Warner and described them as absolute legends in the history of the tournament. He pointed to Warne’s record runs and 66 50+ scores in the IPL. He also had an eye on Shane Watson’s dream debut and retirement in the IPL, winning the trophy with different franchises on both occasions. He was also the MVP in IPL in several seasons.
Big Australian cricketers in IPL whom Finch ignored
Aaron Finch managed to pick both the Australian players who he believed had ruled Australian cricket. But they overlooked several big Australian names, including some stars who have won seasons for their franchises.
The IPL has featured players like Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Glenn Maxwell and two winning captains, Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist. However, Finch ignored all these cricketers while selecting the top 5.
Watson, Warner and… Aaron Finch picks his top five Australian players of all time in IPL pic.twitter.com/G1ZkwBTUkN
– ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) 16 April 2026
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