Australian captain Pat Cummins and batter Travis Head have reportedly turned down lucrative offers worth millions from an Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise group to quit national duty and join franchise-based T20 leagues full-time.
The informal $10 million offer to each player aimed to entice the Australians into a global T20 network spanning India, the UAE, the USA, and the Caribbean, according to Australian media outlet The Sydney Morning Herald.
With the rapid growth of franchise cricket, IPL team owners have expanded their reach by acquiring stakes in leagues such as SA20, ILT20, Major League Cricket (MLC), Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and The Hundred.
These leagues now offer players multi-million-dollar contracts — often far exceeding what they earn from national boards.
Top Australian cricketers contracted by Cricket Australia (CA) reportedly earn around 1.5 million Australian dollars annually.
Cummins, as national captain, earns close to 3 million Australian dollars, while his IPL deal with Sunrisers Hyderabad adds another $3.7 million.
Head, who also represents the same franchise, earns about $1.2 million.
Despite the financial allure, both Cummins and Head remain committed to representing Australia across formats.
Head, in particular, has made it clear that he had no intention of leaving international cricket despite the temptations of franchise wealth.
During a recent interview, opener Travis Head explained that he decided to play in the Major League Cricket (MLC) to experience franchise cricket firsthand.
He said he wanted to understand the demands of playing consecutive tournaments such as the IPL, World Cup, and MLC, describing it as an opportunity to experience four months of continuous franchise cricket and learn how different systems operate.
“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,” Head said.
“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. 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 it was about getting back into that,” he added.
The 31-year-old batter emphasised that while the experience was valuable, his primary focus remained on national duty.
“It was a perfect time in my life to do that, and now that time has moved past. Currently, I’m playing for Australia, and I don’t see a timeline where I can play anything else, really,” he concluded.
