T20 World Cup Finalists England, Australia at IPL

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As per Cricinfo, the teams for the T20 World Cup final will be from

Australia squad -

MJ Clarke*, DT Christian, BJ Haddin†, RJ Harris, NM Hauritz, DJ Hussey, MEK Hussey, MG Johnson, DP Nannes, TD Paine†, SPD Smith, SW Tait, DA Warner, SR Watson, CL White

England squad -  PD Collingwood*, JM Anderson, RS Bopara, TT Bresnan, SCJ Broad, C Kieswetter†, MJ Lumb, EJG Morgan, KP Pietersen, A Shahzad, RJ Sidebottom, GP Swann, JC Tredwell, LJ Wright, MH Yardy

Which of these players participated in the IPL?

From the Australian team, it was Harris, Hussey brothers, Nannes, Tait, Warner, Watson and White whereas Collingwood, Bopara, Lumb, Morgan, KP participated in the IPL3.

All these players did not participate in all the matches - the Oz team was playing in NewZealand before they embarked for the 2nd half of the tournament.

The Aussies did fairly well in the tournament, especially Nannes. In fact, Bollinger played better than the bowlers who are participating in the World Cup. Michael Hussey played in few games for CSK but did not play in latter matches of the tournament. David Warner played well in short stints for Delhi while Watson excelled in his few matches for Rajasthan Royals.

The English were busy playing in Bangladesh before their players came over to India. Lumb, in fact, came into prominence after playing for RR. Collingwood did well for Delhi Daredevils while Morgan couldn't get going for RCB before KP made his appearance. Bopara could do little to justify his presence for Kings XI Punjab.

Did they feel the tiredness from IPL? No, as Mr. Gavaskar says so. But, not all the 14-15 players of the squad did play and neither did the ones who played, did in all the matches. It is not fair to compare the two. Of course, the local Indian players would have been a greater draw at the after-match parties rather than the foreigners, don't you agree? The Board and Gavaskar/Shastri will not say anything against the IPL for obvious reasons but no one can deny the fact that IPL was a factor for the failure of the Indian team.

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