A development that could serve to shock many is that top Australian cricketers, Pat Cummins and Travis Head, were apparently offered as much as $10 million each to quit Australian cricket and play for that particular franchise in global T20 leagues. The report says that Australian stalwarts declined the lucrative deal and chose the country over the money.
As the report by The Age has it, Pat Cummins and Travis Head were approached by a certain IPL franchise with an offer too lucrative to refuse. The franchise purportedly told Cummins and Head that they will be paid $10 million annually if they quit Australian cricket and became available for global T20 leagues where the franchise owns teams.
The conversion to Indian currency shows an apogeal amount of about INR 58.2 Crores, way bigger than what Cummins and Head get every year as Aussie cricketers, which, according to The Age, is approximately INR 8.74 Crores.
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The seasoned duo, however, did not fall for that and opted country over the buck. Needless to add, the two players were considered the backbone members of the Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise in the IPL. Besides the IPL, Sunrisers have stakes in The Hundred and SA20, through the ownership of Northern Super Chargers and Sunrisers Eastern Cape, respectively.
Retention-wise, SRH booked the Australian Test and ODI captain for a whopping INR 18 crores for the IPL 2025. Another big retention was Head, who extended his stay with SRH on a 14 Crore INR contract.
While the offer was declined by Cummins and Head, several West Indies, New Zealand and South African cricketers have started the trend of choosing leagues over national duty towards the end of their careers. Kane Williamson is still a free agent, Nicholas Pooran and Heinrich Klaasen, in contrast, terminated their careers earlier than expected trying to capitalize on opportunities in varied T20 leagues.
