PAK V AUS: Matthew Hayden Unhappy With Australian Players Preferring IPL And Skipping White-Ball Leg Of Pakistan Tour

Former Australian batter and Pakistan batting consultant, Matthew Hayden is unhappy with some of the Australian players skipping the limited-overs leg of their upcoming tour of Pakistan with a view of being available for the entirety of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2022) tournament.

Earlier CA had announced the squad for the white-ball tour of Pakistan. With Australia’s tour of Pakistan coinciding with IPL 2022, there was doubt whether all-stars will be available for the white-ball series. While Cricket Australia did their best, locking Aussie stars till April 5, several top stars pulled out of the Pakistan tour in favor of being available for the entire duration of the IPL 2022.

According to reports, the star players gave priority to IPL over the tour of Pakistan. At the same time national team selector, George Bailey, confirmed that none of the players can join the IPL before April 6, the players would have missed more matches due to the quarantine protocol requirement of IPL.

“When players are choosing not to play for their country it is a massive flag of concern for your high-performance set-up. I just don’t reckon it passes the pub test. The single biggest thing which ties everything together at that level is that you are all really keen to play for your country and if you haven’t got that, I actually question whether you have a high-performance culture at all. I just feel Cricket Australia is being led around by the players lately and that has created a unique set of problems,” Hayden was quoted by The Australian.

You Shouldn’t Be Able To Cherry-Pick When You Want To Play For Australia: Matthew Hayden Criticizes Australian Players For Preferring IPL

With CA’s NOC coming into effect from April 6, many stars chose to enter IPL’s bio-bubble in advance so that they can be available from that day. Top Australian Pat Cummins, David Warner, Josh Hazlewood, and Mitchell Starc (Not part of IPL 2022) were not named in the squad as they were rested ahead of the IPL 2022.

Hayden was not happy with the players who chose to take part in a franchise tournament over international duty and should be answerable.

“I just feel Cricket Australia is being led around by the players lately and that has created a unique set of problems. You shouldn’t be able to cherry-pick when you want to play for Australia. It does not make any sense to me.

We all know how important the IPL is and it has its window and I know it can be difficult for players and administrators to operate within the confines of modern schedules but I still think you can’t have your cake and eat it. If you are unavailable to play for Australia there has to be some accountability. You shouldn’t be paid for work you don’t do and should have to salary sacrifice,” he added.

Australia’s Pakistan tour begins on March 4^th and ends on April 5. This is the first time since 1998 that Australia is touring the Asian country.

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