Clarke possible target for Pune Warriors

 

Michael Clarke, the Australia captain, is being considered as "one of the options" to fill the 11th and last overseas players' slot at Pune Warriors for the fifth season of the IPL. ESPNcricinfo understands that the franchise and player have had initial talks but there has been no constructive development. Clarke has always been firm in his prioritisation of international Test cricket above domestic Twenty20 competitions. That added to the fact that he is currently injured and will be unavailable till the end of April due to Australia's tour of the West Indies has made the situation uncertain.

"Clarke is contemplating," a source privy to the discussions said. "He is one of the options to replace the absent Yuvraj Singh."

Sourav Ganguly, the Warriors mentor and senior player, was quoted in the Kolkata newspaper, the Telegraph, as saying the franchise was close to signing Clarke. "We're on the verge of signing [Michael] Clarke. However, he will be available from May," Ganguly was quoted as saying by the paper at a public function in Kolkata on Wednesday. But the Warriors' officials declined to comment on the issue.

Clarke had, in 2009, pulled out of the IPL auction, citing Australia's busy schedule, and has never played in the competition. In fact the only domestic Twenty20 games he has played were way back in 2004, for Hampshire in England. He also retired from Twenty20 internationals in January 2011 in order to focus on ODIs and Tests.

He is currently recuperating from a left hamstring injury, which ruled him out of the third final of the Commonwealth Bank Series and the one-day series in the West Indies. The five-match ODI series, which starts on March 16, will be followed immediately by two Twenty20s before the three-Test Frank Worrell Trophy is played between April 7 to 27.

Ganguly had pointed out that Clarke, if signed, would only be available after that, for the backend of the Warriors' campaign. A source told ESPNcricinfo that things were far from finalised. He said the problem was that Clarke would only be available for the final seven matches of the league phase. "It is too early. It might not happen too," the source said of the proposed deal.

Clarke's T20 strike-rate of 108.85 meant he was never a marquee player in the format but he has been in outstanding form in the past year, and has shown aggression with the bat in ODIs, as was evident during his 117 off 91 balls in the second final of the CB series