Fears that franchise T20 cricket is a massive threat to international bilateral series’ in the sport have persisted for a few years now, and according to recent reports, those threats have been accelerated in the past few days.
According to Australian publication The Age, representatives of some franchises of the Indian Premier League (IPL) have been in touch with top Australian internationals over a year-long contractual deal. The move has been likened to golf’s LIV Tour – a Saudi Arabia-backed upstart league that has usurped most of the players from the PGA and European Tours – in the sense that players will be paid more money to play less.
The Age reported a figure as high as $5 million may be presented to some of the top Australian cricketers, like Test captain Pat Cummins, Glen Maxwell, and David Warner. Cummins is currently Australia’s highest-earning cricketer, but the reported figure would more than double the value of his current annual contract with Cricket Australia.
The IPL has no plans of holding a longer season or looking to keep action on the field for as long as a year, but instead many IPL teams are reportedly looking to lock down players for the year to be able to play for the other teams they own in various franchise leagues all over the world.
Kolkata Knight Riders, for example, own the Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), as well as the Abu Dhabi-based team in the newly formed UAE International League, and the Los Angeles-based team in the soon-to-be-announced American franchise league.
Each of the six teams in the new SA20 league in South Africa are owned by IPL owners, and others, like the Mumbai Indians, have also taken a stake in teams in the UAE’s league.
Players willingly signing up for the annual contract with franchise teams, however, will still need a No Objection Certificate from their respective international cricket boards.
The Age has reported that the sources they have been in touch with have not highlighted any genuine interest from Australia players, but as the current generation gets closer to retirement, one source claimed it would only be “18 months to 2 years” before an international cricketer begins to agree to deals like this.
