Retired star David Warner’s horror week continued after he was sent back to the Indian Premier League auction, not retained by the Delhi Capitals days after his offer to come out of retirement for the Test team was swatted away on every level.
He wasn’t the only Australian cut adrift, however, with Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Starc, who returned to the IPL in 2024 on a mega deal worth in excess of $4million and was keen to return in 2025, headed to the auction as well after a mass clean-out by franchises.
The 14 Australians released back to the pool had contracts worth close to a combined $14million. That list includes Cameron Green, who also had a $3.1million deal with Royal Challengers Bengaluru but has been sidelined by a back injury that will force him out for up to six months.
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 $3.66million and $1.22million respectively in 2025.
Warner offered to come out of retirement to help the Aussie side ahead of the upcoming Test series against India on October 22 in a move that was widely criticised.
The batter’s wife Candice later insisted his apparent backflip was ‘not happening’ and it’s been claimed her husband was only joking.
The team’s problems at the top of the batting order were thrown into stark relief during the Australia A match against India A this week, as Test batting candidates Sam Konstas, Cameron Bancroft, Marcus Harris and Nathan McSweeney all failed in their first innings.
When Fox Cricket posted a graphic to Instagram detailing how the batters had blown their chance, Warner responded with a single raised-hand emoji to indicate he’s ready to step up.
The Delhi Capitals Indian Premier League side have waved goodbye to David Warner (pictured) after his sensational offer to backflip on his Test retirement
Kolkata Knight Riders’ Mitchell Starc (pictured) also wasn’t retained for 2025
Warner responded to an Instagram post (above) detailing the failure of the batters who were in line to grab a spot in the Test team by putting his hand up with a cheeky emoji (pictured)
The 38-year-old’s offer to return to the crease saw him cop waves of criticism
The 38-year-old had a horror IPL season in 2024, battling a hand injury, making just 168 runs in eight innings before he was replaced by young dynamo Jake Fraser-McGurk, who lit up the tournament and finished as Delhi’s third leading scorer with 330 runs, off just 141 balls.
But he too is headed to the auction after the Delhi Capitals also axed coach Ricky Ponting following a disappointing tournament when they failed to make the finals.
Despite helping Kolkata Knight Riders secure the title in his first IPL in more than a decade, Starc, who after taking seven wickets in his Sheffield Shield outing at the MCG last week said he’d “heard nothing” from the franchise but wanted to return, was not retained.
Australian spin star Adam Zampa, who has regularly battled for IPL game time, was also let go.
AUSTRALIANS RELEASED BY THEIR 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)
