Wade's latest reinvention earns long-awaited IPL return

Matthew Wade's latest reinvention of himself will take him back to the Indian Premier League for the first time in 11 years as Australia's World Cup-winning wicketkeeper reaps the rewards of his strong T20 finishing form.

Wade was in an elevator at the Aussies' Sydney hotel last Sunday evening when he received bids from two teams and was eventually purchased for A$446,000 by new franchise Gujarat Titans.

It was recognition for a late-career renaissance as Australia's lower-order batting specialist that has seen him dismissed only twice in his last six T20I innings, averaging 67 with a strike-rate of 165.43 since his permanent shift down the order at the start of last year's World Cup.

Wade had gone unsold at a half-a-dozen IPL auctions since playing three games under Greg Shipperd at the Delhi Daredevils in 2011 and there are strong parallels to his latest re-emergence with his second coming as a Test cricketer.

Image Id: FFBA660E0C24433B92C41C89DDC7ACA5 Image Caption: Wade played three games for the Delhi Daredevils in 2011 // Getty

"Me going down the bottom has showed the versatility that's required to get gigs internationally," Wade told cricket.com.au. "In those kind of competitions they want players that can bat all through the order and I probably hadn't shown that in previous years.

"I've done that over the last 12 months so hence I get an opportunity. I'm really excited. It's a bit of a free hit, like I've been saying for the last few years."

Just as Josh Hazlewood has credited an IPL-winning stint with the Chennai Super Kings last year as a major factor in his rapid improvement as a short-form cricketer, Wade is eager to make similar strides in the league regarded as the world's best domestic T20 competition.

The 34-year-old will be jostling with another former Test keeper in Wriddhiman Saha to take the gloves for the Hardik Pandya-captained team which will play their home games at the 132,000-capacity Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, the largest stadium in the world after a recent rebuild.

Fellow keeper Josh Inglis, who played as a specialist batter against Sri Lanka, was a revelation in his maiden international campaign as Australia’s leading batter in the 4-1 win, scoring 155 runs at a strike-rate of 143.51.

But Wade's continued strong form in a position Australia have typically struggled to fill means he looks certain to retain the gloves for their T20 title defence later this year, and he added an exclamation point to his case by top-scoring with an unbeaten 43 off 27 balls in the home summer finale on Sunday evening at the MCG.

With a host of T20 Internationals expected to be played before this year's World Cup in Australia, Inglis could well be given the opportunityto make the No.5 spot his own over the coming months.

After their strong World Cup campaigns down the order, Marcus Stoinis and Wade remained Australia's designated finishers throughout the Sri Lanka series despite having strong cases to earn opportunities further up the order in the absence of Mitch Marsh and David Warner.

"There's been a real switch of mindset," explained Wade. "(In the past) we've picked guys who open in the BBL to bat in the middle order, which was what has happened with me as well.

"But I feel really confident with the selectors and with 'Ronnie' (interim head coach Andrew McDonald) that I'm going to get opportunities there, so I don't feel under pressure to go out and try and prove myself.

"They've made no secret that they want to give me and Stoinis as much opportunity to bat low in those positions and get some camaraderie and do what we did in the World Cup more often.

"I feel really backed by everyone around the group and that certainly helps when you're going out to bat and you're only going to face a max(imum) of 25-30 balls."

Men's T20 World Cup 2022

First round

Group A: Sri Lanka, Namibia, two qualifiers

Group B: West Indies, Scotland, two qualifiers

Super 12 stage

Group 1: Australia, Afghanistan, England, New Zealand, A1, B2

Group 2: Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, South Africa, B1, A2

Australia's T20 World Cup 2022 fixtures

Oct 22: v New Zealand, SCG, 6pm AEDT

Oct 25: v A1, Optus Stadium, 10pm AEDT

Oct 28: v England, MCG, 7pm AEDT

Oct 31: v B2, Gabba, 7pm AEDT

Nov 4: v Afghanistan, Adelaide Oval, 7pm AEDT

Semi-finals

Nov 9: SCG, 7pm AEDT

Nov 10: Adelaide Oval, 7pm AEDT

Final

Nov 13: MCG, 7pm AEDT