Henriques eyes IPL chance to win back Aussie T20 spot

Moises Henriques slept through the most profitable few minutes of his career but the potential importance of this year's Indian Premier League to his rekindled international career has not been lost on him.

A relative IPL veteran having turned out in 57 games since 2009 for four franchises and being bought by another two without ever playing for them, Henriques went to bed hours before his name was due to be read out during last month's IPL auction.

"I was not expecting to get picked up at all," the 34-year-old, who was two days into a Marsh Sheffield Shield for NSW at the time, told cricket.com.au.

"It wasn't until I woke up to go to the bathroom that I noticed I saw a couple of messages saying congrats on the pick-up and I thought, 'That's nice,' and tried to go back to sleep as soon as possible.

"I just assumed I would have been picked up at base (price, which he'd set at A$177,354).

"Then it wasn't until I woke up properly in the morning that I realised how much I went for."

Henriques had been sold for 4.2 crore (A$745,000) to Punjab Kings following back-and-forth bids with Royal Challengers Bangalore. Joining him at the franchise are fellow Australians Jhye Richardson and Riley Meredith.

In a sign of the warped economy of the IPL auction, Henriques went for nearly double what his more accomplished Australia and Blues teammate, Steve Smith, was purchased by the Delhi Capitals for.

More importantly for Henriques, who has re-signed with the Sydney Sixers for a further two years after captaining the club to a second straight KFC BBL title this summer, it was also a sign that those in the know still see the value he provides and that his growing list of achievements could yet spark an ascendant final chapter of his career.

After quietly impressing with both bat and ball in his return to Australia's limited-overs sides against India and then spending the rest of the recent international season as a back-up Test squad member, Henriques furthered his claims last week for the vacant No.5 spot in the Test side with a third Shield century in five games.

But it's in the shortest format of the game in which Henriques' more immediate national ambitions lie.

Not only did the cancelled South Africa tour rob him of a chance to potentially add to his four Tests, it also meant he was unable to maintain his incumbency in the T20 team, which will play the third match of their five-game series in New Zealand this afternoon.

Henriques, who played all three T20Is against India during Australia's injury-riddled 1-2 series defeat at the start of the summer, is still unsure if he will miss the end of the Shield and Marsh Cup seasons to join Punjab, stressing he won't leave Australia until he understands the extent of the IPL's bio-security arrangements.

But the lure of the T20 World Cup in India later this year is enormous given he has never played in one.

"There's no secret I was gutted when you fight your way into the international white-ball teams and then you get selected to go to South Africa and that tour doesn't go ahead, and you don't get your opportunity to defend your spot in that (T20) team when it goes to new Zealand," Henriques said.

"By not playing, someone else gets that opportunity – and deservedly so.

"But (the IPL) is more T20 cricket, more white-ball cricket for me to play and learn from. If I do get that opportunity (for Australia) in the future, then I'd be ready to go."

Qantas T20I tour of New Zealand 2021

Australia squad: Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Daniel Sams, Tanveer Sangha, D'Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa.

New Zealand squad: Kane Williamson (c), Hamish Bennett, Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, *Martin Guptill (pending fitness test), Kyle Jamieson, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert (wk), Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee. *Finn Allen (on stand-by for Guptill)

1st T20: New Zealand won by 53 runs

2nd T20: New Zealand won by four runs

3rd T20: March 3, Sky Stadium, Wellington, 5pm AEDT

4th T20: March 5, Sky Stadium, Wellington, 5pm AEDT

5th T20: March 7, Sky Stadium, Wellington, 10am AEDT

All matches will be shown live in Australia on Fox Cricket and Kayo