There are 16 Australians signed to sides for the IPL 2024. Some contracts are unbelievable, others akin to construction project managers.
Australia’s relationship with the Indian Premier League is long and rich. Some of our finest short-form exports, including Shane Warne, Shane Watson and David Warner, have cut their teeth in world cricket’s premier domestic T20 competition.
At their peak, these men were, and still are, entertainers of the highest calibre. A new generation of Australian superstars, many with T20 and ODI World Cup medals dangling around their necks, will take their talents into the IPL in 2024.
Some were recently acquired at the tournament’s record-breaking auction, while others remain at sides where their history and connection is deep.
With the lucrative tournament around the corner, we ran our eye over every Australian contracted to an IPL club and the salaries they’re set to pocket and compiled them into a one-stop shop for your pleasure.
A little editor’s note: all figures are approximate and in AUD.
Every Australian’s IPL 2024 contract
We’ve ranked them from lowest to highest salary.
16. Nathan Ellis
IPL 2024 contract: $133,000
Club: Punjab Kings
Aussie quick Nathan Ellis was the first cricketer to take a hat-trick on T20I debut. That should say it all about his short-form bowling credentials. He returns to Punjab Kings, who’ve been his home since 2021 when he was brought in as a replacement player for fellow Aussie, Riley Meredith.
15. Jason Behrendorff
IPL 2024 contract: $135,000
Club: Mumbai Indians
Another towering quick bowler, Jason Behrendorff is a short-form bowling specialist with a 23.55 average in T20 internationals. In the IPL, the big quick has played 17 matches and taken 19 wickets at an average of 29.
14. Ashton Turner
IPL 2024 contract: $178,000
Club: Lucknow Super Giants
Perth Scorchers captain, Ashton Turner, is a steady head in any T20 middle order, capable of anchoring an innings or taking the game from the opposition in a matter of overs. In consecutive Big Bash finals in 2022 and 2023, he scored back-to-back finals in two Scorchers victories.
13. Adam Zampa
IPL 2024 contract: $267,000
Club: Rajasthan Royals
This might be the steal of the season. Fresh off the back of taking the second most wickets in the 2023 ODI World Cup, which Australia won, the spinner is in a rich vein of form and arguably at the peak of his powers.
12. Matthew Wade
IPL 2024 contract: $428,000
Club: Gujarat Giants
Matt Wade is dynamite. Probably known globally more for his ‘niiiicee Gary’s’ than his batting, he is an absolute short-form game-changer, particularly at the top of the order. In 94 Big Bash matches, he has 17 half-centuries and one ton.
11. Jhye Richardson
IPL 2024 contract: $892,000
Club: Delhi Capitals
Having overcome serious recent injury woes, West Australian quick Jhye Richardson is set to collect a pretty penny when he runs out for the Delhi Capitals. A devastating pacer with an average of 19.38 in his Big Bash career, expect fireworks every time you see Richardson take his mark.
10. David Warner
IPL 2024 contract: $1.14 million
Club: Delhi Capitals
The Bull is arguably the greatest T20 batsman in history. A pioneer of switch-hitting, he’s a batting maverick who sends shivers down opposing bowlers’ spines. No section of boundary rope is safe when Warner is at the crease.
He is also the fastest man to reach 5,000 IPL runs, taking just 135 innings’ to do so, and became the first overseas player to achieve this milestone back in 2020.
9. Mitch Marsh
IPL 2024 contract: $1.2 million
Club: Delhi Capitals
Likely joining Warner at the top of the Delhi Capitals order, Mitch Marsh is in the middle of a swashbuckling career renaissance. A core element of Australia’s 2023 ODI World Cup winning side, he is the perfect marriage of power-hitting and serviceable fast bowling, a la Shane Watson.
8. Travis Head
IPL 2024 contract: $1.22 million
Club: Sunrisers Hyderabad
If Adam Zampa isn’t the bargain of the IPL then Travis Head just might be. Much like Warner and Marsh, he too was an invaluable member of Australia’s recent ODI World Cup success. An aggressive, front-foot batsman who offers bowlers little room for error, few willow wielders in world cricket evoke more fear than Travis Head.
7. Tim David
IPL 2024 contract: $1.53 million
Club: Mumbai Indians
Google ‘T20 specialist’ and Tim David’s picture might pop up. David is a power hitter of the highest order with more T20I sixes than he’s played games. He’s a worthwhile closer, capable of finishing off run chases with a head cool as ice.
6. Marcus Stoinis
IPL 2024 contract: $1.64 million
Club: Lucknow Super Giants
Speaking of cool as ice, is Marcus Stoinis not the coolest cricketer going? Aside from that, few can match his output in the game’s shortest format. Able to bat anywhere in the top six, he tends to do his best work higher up the order. His 147 not out in 2020 is the Big Bash’s second-highest-ever score and came when he opened the batting.
5. Spencer Johnson
IPL 2024 contract: $1.78 million
Club: Gujarat Titans
Surprisingly high on this list, big quick Spencer Johnson is a frightening proposition for any batsman. Such is the ferocious speed with which the left-arm slings balls down the pitch, he clocked a mind-boggling 150km/h in just his second Big Bash game.
4. Glenn Maxwell
IPL 2024 contract: $1.96 million
Club: Royal Challengers Bangalore
What can be said about the Big Show that hasn’t already been said? On his day, there are few better batters in the world. Oh, and he bowls offies when required.
As Tina Turner once said, Maxwell is simply the best and Royal Challengers Bangalore will be hoping he can show he’s better than all the rest.
3. Cameron Green
IPL 2024 contract: $3.15 million
Club: Royal Challengers Bangalore
Lining up alongside Maxwell will be Cameroon Green, the prodigious, towering all-rounder with the talent to be selected in any side around the world as either a specialist batsman or specialist bowler. That he can do both is indicative of the world-beating talent he has and is why he once received the highest-ever IPL auction bid.
Consistency in the Test arena has eluded him so far, but in the shorter formats of the game Green’s power hitting and batsman-squeezing bowling make for a powerful one-two punch capable of elevating any side from stragglers to title contenders.
2. Pat Cummins
IPL 2024 contract: $3.66 million
Club: Sunrisers Hyderabad
At one point in the 2024 IPL auction Pat Cummins laid claim the highest bid received for a player in the competition’s history. It didn’t last long, but the fact that it happened highlights the high esteem the Australian captain is held in right across the world.
In the eyes of the majority, Pat Cummins is one of the greatest bowlers of his generation, and would probably feature in most fans’ all-time Australian XI’s. In cricket’s shortest, Cummins has 55 wickets at an average of 24.55, further highlighting why budgetary considerations were thrown out the window once he went up for auction.
1. Mitch Starc
IPL 2024 contract: $4.42 million
Club: Kolkata Knight Riders
The man who didn’t let Cummins hold the record for long was none other than fellow Australian teammate and one of cricket’s greatest-ever short-form bowlers, Mitchell Starc.
After an eight-year IPL absence, he returns to the tournament as its most expensive-ever player. Not only a divine bowler, with a yorker that is as impossible to pick up as it is to stop but also a powerful lower-order batsman capable of providing useful runs at the tail-end of an innings.
