Last Updated on 1 year by Charbel Coorey

Cricket News: Pat Cummins opens up on IPL & franchise leagues taking over international cricket | Pat Cummins speaks about future of cricket

Australian Test skipper Pat Cummins said that international cricket does not hold monopoly over players’ time anymore. He mentioned that the dynamics of the sport have changed ever since the advent of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Speaking ahead of the World Test Championship (WTC) final, Cummins believes the 12 month-long international calendar might start looking very different in a few years.

He added that representing Australia in the international arena should remain special. The pacer asserted they still need the best players to play for the country and win big tournaments and series. However, the 30-year-old refrained from blaming players taking up lucrative deals in franchise T20 leagues.

Cummins on the IPL, franchise leagues & the future of cricket

Cummins backed out of IPL 2023, where his contract was worth Rs 7.25 crore, in order to stay fresh for the WTC final, Ashes and ICC Men’s ODI World Cup. But, that might not be the case for everyone considering Trent Boult opted out of his contract with New Zealand Cricket (NZC) last year to explore more opportunities of turning up in T20 leagues across the world.

“International cricket doesn’t have a monopoly on players’ time, like it did in the past”, Cummins explained. “The IPL changed that a decade ago, but there’s just going to be more and more content that creeps in, so I think we’ve got to be proactive about that.”

He added, “When you’re talking about some of the opportunities that may be provided through the franchises, I don’t think you can blame players that might take that option. I see the day where that (a franchise release) happens. I think it’s reality. You’ve seen it in other sports.”

Cummins acknowledged that going down the road, it is a possibility that players will have to seek getting released by their franchises to play international cricket. He said that there are more competing interests in world cricket currently than ever before. The aforementioned statement might be true with rumours going the rounds of IPL franchises offering mega multi-million deals to contractually sign and become primary employers to six top English cricketers.

According to a recent CricBlog fan survey on the future of cricket, 68% of respondents believe that IPL franchises could soon hold more power over international boards. It is a change that seems inevitable, so how international cricket is impacted remains to be seen.