Pat Cummins, Travis Head bribed by IPL teams to leave Australian Cricket; amount will BLOW YOUR MIND
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Australian legendary captain Pat Cummins and fellow teammate Travis Head were informally offered a mammoth sum of $10 million a year, with a deal to quit Australian cricket and play in overseas T20 franchise leagues full-time.
The immense growth in franchise cricket has been noted in recent times, as several countries around the world have introduced their own T20 Leagues as per global standards.
Several stars have been drawn towards such leagues, while many greats of the game, like Quinton de Kock, Heinrich Klaasen, or Nicholas Pooran, retired from international cricket to feature in such leagues.
The world currently has the Indian Premier League, Big Bash League, Major League Cricket, and SA20 as the biggest known franchise tournaments. It also comprises several other leagues, like the Caribbean Premier League, Vitality Blast, and The Hundred, among other global platforms for cricketers.
Pat Cummins offered nearly 6 times his annual income to leave Australian cricket
Australian skipper Pat Cummins and deputy Travis Head have been offered a huge sum of money, nearly $10 million, to quit Australian cricket and play in the overseas T20 franchise tournaments around the globe.
As per the recent standards of Cricket Australia, top Aussie cricketers typically earn about $1.5 million annually from their national contracts. Overall, Pat Cummins, the Australian World Cup-winning skipper, earns $3 million from international cricket once his captaincy stipend is taken into account.
The offer was made this year by an IPL team group; however, it was politely rebuffed by the two Australian greats, who undoubtedly are valuable assets of Australian cricket.
Jofra Archer rejected a year-round deal from the Mumbai Indians
England fast bowler Jofra Archer rejected a similar year-round deal to play for the Mumbai Indians in 2023. The offer for the English cricketer was worth as much as $7.5 million over a period of 12 months.
While players like Pat Cummins and Travis Head denied such offers, their Sunrisers Hyderabad teammate Heinrich Klaasen recently retired from all formats of international cricket in June to feature exclusively in global franchise tournaments.
Though Cummins and Head remain among Australia's fewest all-format cricketers and also the most valuable athletes, their salaries remain much lower than athletes playing under private ownership.
Travis Head had the urge to experience franchise cricket
Last year, in 2024, Pat Cummins, as well as Travis Head, played in both the IPL and the Major League Cricket tournaments, on either side of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. Head had then claimed that he wished to experience what it was like to play franchise cricket more intensively.
“I played MLC to get a taste of what it would be like to play franchise cricket,” Head said. “I had IPL into a World Cup into MLC, so I wanted to see what it was like to basically play four months of franchise cricket."
“You want to have every option available to you, you want to experience things and understand how things operate. A lot of people are making certain decisions around the world, and it was a perfect opportunity for me to understand that and see what it was like for whenever the time comes for what I may or may not do in the future," he added.
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