The Australia captain Pat Cummins has called for a specific window in a year to be able to play both the Indian Premier League and Test cricket. The cricketing schedule in these days is quite tight and makes it quite taxing mentally and physically for a player to be part of various formats altogether.
This has occurred because of the increase in T20 leagues around the globe. This year 2024 started with Test cricket between India and England, and a couple of weeks later, the players found themselves involved in the IPL. In a five to six-day break, they flew to the United States of America and then the Caribbean to be part of the T20 World Cup 2024.
Five days later, they are playing the away Zimbabwe series. In between the England players played a home T20I series against Pakistan, whereas at the end of the 20-over event, some of the players got engaged with various leagues- whether it’s the Lanka Premier League (LPL) or the Major Cricket League (MLC).
‘You can’t be playing everything these days’- Pat Cummins
Pat Cummins spoke about how a certain period in a year could make it easy for the players to arrange themselves for both the longest format and league of the game.
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He was present at the MCC World Cricket Connects 2024, which took place at Lord’s this weekend, as the pacer delivered a speech and shed light on various factors of the game.
‘Franchise cricket for some countries is more lucrative, more appealing than international cricket.’ Pat Cummins expressed in the discussion. ‘If I went and played franchise cricket, I could probably be away for a half or a third of the amount we are for Australia.’
The veteran pacer also revealed how if they make certain periods for the IPL and the Test cricket, then the decision-making for the players will be a lot easier in the future.
‘In Australia, you know Test cricket is from November to January and basically, no other cricket is going to get in the way of us playing Test cricket then.’ Pat Cummins added on as saying by ‘The Sydney Morning Herald’. ‘If we can have specific windows for IPL but the also Test windows, that makes the decision-making for the players a lot easier.’
The former captain of the Australia women’s team and the multiple World Cup winning, Meg Lanning feels that the players could no longer think of playing both the league games and international cricket simultaneously.
‘The reality is in my view that you can’t be playing everything these days, both internationally and domestically as one of the top players.’ Lanning reflected at Lord’s. ‘I think it’s too much. And while it might seem fine initially and for a few years, I think it’s just inevitable that you’ll get burnt out doing that.’
The Cricket Australia Chairman Mike Baird also discussed the concerns of how the future of Test cricket looks thing and at one point, there will be a handful of Test-playing nations left.
‘There was discussion around sharing economics and acknowledgment across the board that larger countries would potentially play a role in that.’ Baird feared. ‘But there were also questions around how many sustainable Test-playing nations are there?’
He also concluded that their board is happy to get ideas and proposals to promote the Test format as it will remain a dominant product in their country. They will keep on investing and supporting the format. However, it’s quite clear that what Pat Cummins suggests could be the way to go in the upcoming months.