Clarke Aims to Revive T20 Career
Australia’s T20 captain Michael Clarke is aiming to revive his career in the shortest format of the game after struggling to make an impact in the crash, bang and wallop variety.
Clarke led the Aussies to the final of this year’s T20 World Championship in the Caribbean. They were humbled by arch rivals England in a lop-sided final after they had sneaked through to the title decider by registering one of the
most remarkable wins in the history of the game.
Mr. Cricket Mike Hussey has powered the Aussies to an unbelievable win in the semi-final against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755, as the left hander took 18 runs off the last over from Saeed Ajmal to chase down the target of 192 runs.
However the final of the tournament was anticlimactic for the Aussies as they were defeated easily by the ‘POMS’.
Throughout the tournament Clarke struggled for runs, yet his captaincy was considered by many as exceptional and hence he has succeeded in holding onto his place in the Aussie squad for the shortest format.
But http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120 has realized that he needs to fix the problem with his batting quickly if he wishes to prolong his career.
The elegant right hander is contemplating on signing an Indian Premier League contract for next year, as he feels that playing top class T20 frequently would help him in developing his game further.
"It's important for me to play as much Twenty20 cricket as I can but I've also got to sum up my body and my life when it comes to choosing between having that six weeks at home for a break or going to play IPL," Clarke said in an interview
for a British tabloid. "If my body feels great and I'm confident I can go out and play those six weeks of the IPL, I'll put myself in the auction.”
He added that he has to be careful about a contract with an IPL franchise as he does not want to jeopardize his Australian career for a lucrative T20 contract.
"But I've also got Test cricket and one-day cricket for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 to think about, our schedule is very busy. If I felt like my body couldn't handle another six weeks of IPL, I wouldn't play it. It would make sense that the closer we
get to the next Twenty20 World Cup, the more I'll want to play."
Clarke added that he has great respect for what the League has done to establish new players, as well as providing players at the twilight of their careers extra money making option adding that he would love to take part in the IPL.
"It's just a matter of when I might be able to play it."
Clarke has a modest return for Australia in T20 cricket, he averages a mere 21.4 runs per innings from 27 innings with a best of 67 runs.
His strike rate is a modest 103 runs per 100 balls, the top ranked batsmen in this version of the game possess a strike rate of around 130-140 runs per 100 balls.
Clarke would be 31 by the time the next T20 World Championship takes place in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 in 2012. He would certainly pin his hopes on keeping the Aussie captaincy till then, and above all develops more stroke making skills that are
needed to score runs at the international level of the instant version.
The Australians have generally been the most sought after players in the Indian Premier League and nearly all top ranked players from down under have represented various franchises in the three editions of the tournament thus far.
It would be heartening to see Michael Clarke taking those necessary steps to step up to the challenge of captaincy. Especially with Ricky Ponting losing his usual flair as captain and the clock ticking like a time bomb against him.
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