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[caption id="attachment_44687" align="alignnone" width="580"] Former Australian captain Michael Clarke with little kids at a function in Kolkata. Image Source: Kolkata[/caption] Kolkata: Former Australian captain Michael Clarke sees no reason why David Warner and Steve Smith will not come back next season to play in the Indian Premier League. In a recent development the top Australian cricketers were lured by the Cricket Australia to not participate in the cash rich league in India. “Both David Warner and Steve Smith will be coming to the IPL. They just love playing it (IPL) over here. I don’t know any Australian cricketer that hasn’t had a good time playing in the IPL. I don’t think we need to keep talking about that. I am really confident that you continue to see the Australian cricketers being a part of IPL. I am certainly coming back (laughs) not to play though,” said Clarke on the sidelines of an announcement of an exchange programme between his academy and Aditya School of Sports. Clarke, who played in the cash rich league for Pune Warriros few years back added, “The game of cricket is bigger than any individual. It has been and will always be. If Sir Donald Bradman can retire and the game goes on that it doesn’t mean who comes in and goes.” The former Australian captain did not have a memorable IPL stint as he was dogged with injuries. According to Clarke, “I was given every opportunity to play in the IPL. I had a lot of injuries throughout my career and that restricted me coming and playing the IPL. I am enjoying my stint in commentary now. I think IPL is a wonderful tournament and great for the game of cricket.” On being asked about the young Indian players who have impressed him the most, Clarke said, “Cheese, and there has been so many. I think the Pandya brothers and Rana (Nitish) for Mumbai, Watching Rishabh Pant bat last night was a fascinating experience. There is so much talent in Indian cricket and that’s why I like the IPL. It exposes the challenges at a young age. If you don’t have the IPL, these guys won’t be seen until they are in the Indian team. It’s like the BBL in Australia. It has done also the same for Australian cricket. Young Australian players playing im front of big crowds, under pressure, televised matches and learn that before you go into the international stage. I think Indian cricket is in safe hands.” Talking about captaincy, Gambhir and Zaheer Khan has been the most impressive for Clarke. “Captaincy of Gambhir has been outstanding. Zaheer has been phenomenal as well. When you are captains in shorter format you really have to take quick decisions. Sometimes it works for you and sometimes it won’t. I guess they are all judged on results. So far that I have seen while commentating both Gambhir and Zaheer has been the stand out with their captaincy,” said Clarke Lastly, speaking on Virat Kohli led Royal Challengers Bangalore’s poor run in the tournament, he jokingly said, “RCB should come to my academy (jokes apart). They have been led very well by Kohli. They have a great bunch of talent. I think they will come back strongly next year”