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The IPL has ended international cricket’s monopoly on players’ time, said Australia captain Pat Cummins, who believes it will be difficult in the future to convince players to favor national debt over franchised cricket. Cummins agrees that Trent Boult’s decision to deny New Zealand a central contract with the lucrative T20 league around the world was just around the corner as the IPL changed the nature of the game ten years ago. “It’s been a long time, but I think it’s already here,” the Cummins Sydney Morning Herald was quoted as saying ahead of the World Testing Championship final against India at The Oval starting June 7th.
“International cricket does not have a monopoly on players’ time, as it did in the past. The IPL changed this a decade ago, but there will be more and more content coming out, so I think we have to be proactive in that regard.” Cummins wants his teammates to consider the national debt above all else, but said that would be a problem in times of wealthy franchise-based leagues.
“We must continue to make playing for Australia as special as possible while maintaining high performance so that every player wants to play for Australia as much as possible. It will be a problem.”
“I think it’s upon us now and we need to start thinking about it pretty deeply. I think if you fast-forward a few years, the 12-month international calendar might look a little different,” the head of the pace said.
Cummins believes cricket is following the path of football and there will come a time when national teams will need permission from franchises to play for the country.
“When you talk about some of the opportunities that franchises can provide, I don’t think you can blame the players who might choose that option,” he said.
“I see the day when this (franchise release) will happen. I think this is reality. You have seen it in other sports. So, again, we have to keep selling why playing for Australia is so special. it’s some flexibility to try and get the best out of these guys.
“We still want the best players to win world championships for us, win big series. But it is clear that there are more competing interests than there have been in the past.
“That’s why things are starting to accelerate and things are moving towards a world football model where you play for your club, you work for your club and you are released to play for your country.” Cummins believes the WTC provides more context for the bilateral trial series.
He said he was looking forward to the first WTC final in Australia, as well as meeting India, who also made it to the last final.
“We have India in first place in the World Testing Finals, which I think a lot of people have forgotten about,” Cummins said.
“He seems to have a little more the second time around. At first, it felt like a big missed opportunity. So now it certainly gives a little more context to each series, something big to play for.
“Big series like Ashes or India where you play four or five Test matches obviously represent big battles, while more common series where you play two or three matches in a row is (World Test Championship) gives them a little more global context and something else to play for.”
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by the NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated channel.)
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