IPL franchise offer USD 10 million to Pat Cummins and Travis Head to quit Australian cricket and commit full-time to T20 leagues - Reports

Pat Cummins and Travis Head are part of Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL.

Australian Cricket Team’s captain Pat Cummins and opener Travis Head have rejected a lucrative offer to quit international cricket and commit full-time to franchise T20 leagues. According to reports by The Age, the Aussie duo were offered USD 10 million (approx. Rs. 58.20 crore) to quit Australian cricket by an Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise.

The popularity of franchise cricket has reached new heights. Many IPL franchises have multiple teams across various T20 leagues such as SA20, International League T20 (ILT20), Major League Cricket (MLC), Caribbean Premier League (CPL), and The Hundred. The franchises offer players expensive contracts to play in leagues, often exceeding the salaries given by their respective national boards.

For instance, Australian players earn around AUD 1.5 million (approx. INR 8.7 crore) annually from Cricket Australia (CA). Cummins, being the test and ODI captain, earns about AUD 3 million (INR 17.5 crore). He earns Rs. 18 crore from his IPL contract with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Head, who also plays for the same franchise, earns Rs. 14 crore annually in IPL.

I don’t see a timeline where I can play anything else than for Australia: Travis Head

Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, Head said that he played franchise cricket to gain experience of it. However, he has no plans to quit Australian cricket in future.

“I played MLC to get a taste of what it would be like to play franchise cricket. I had IPL in 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,” he said.

“Whether I could do it, whether I liked it, whether I was good at it. I hadn’t played a lot of T20 cricket for a period of time, so get back into that. It was a perfect time in my life [to do that], then that time moves past. Currently, I’m playing for Australia, and I don’t see a timeline where I can play anything else, really,” he added.

Notably, Cummins led Australia to ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 title by defeating India in the final, where Head scored a match-winning century in the clash. The Pat Cummins-led Australia also won the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2021-23 title by defeating India in the final, where again Head shined.

Meanwhile, Australia currently preparing for the white-ball series against India and the Ashes 2025-26, scheduled to commence on November 21 with the opening game in Perth. Cummins will miss the India series and is also expected to miss the Ashes due to injury.

On the other hand, Head will be next seen in action against India as he has been named in both ODI and T20I squads. The India tour of Australia 2025 will begin on October 19 with the first ODI. Three ODIs and five T20Is will take place during the campaign, which will conclude on November 8.

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