Pat Cummins targeted in contract crackdown

Indian cricket’s latest flex has targeted Pat Cummins and other top Australian players by threatening two-year bans if they skip the IPL for any reason other than injury.

Under the new regulation, Cummins’ eye-popping $3.67 million contract to play in the IPL this year would have gone up in smoke because he skipped the 2023 tournament. Mitchell Starc’s record $4.43 million deal would also have been under scrutiny.

Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins. Credit: Getty

Formalised by the BCCI over the weekend, the change greatly tightens the hold of IPL clubs over their players, protecting their budgets, and makes it far more difficult for Cummins and others to manage their calendars to prioritise Australian duty and major events.

It was pushed unanimously by all IPL franchises at a governing council meeting in July, and has been approved by the Indian board chief Jay Shah in one of his last moves before he takes over as the supremo of world cricket in November. The IPL is played from March to June each year.

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