Pat Cummins, Travis Head Turn Down Rs 58 Crore Per Year Offers to Stay with Australia

With T20 franchise cricket growing around the world, many players are being approached by teams to play in different leagues throughout the year. The recent international retirements of players like Nicholas Pooran and Heinrich Klaasen show that this trend is becoming serious. Experts had earlier warned that players might start choosing T20 leagues over international cricket.

Now, according to a report by The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia’s Test captain Pat Cummins and star batter Travis Head were each offered a huge deal worth 10 million Australian dollars (around ₹58 crore) per year to play franchise cricket.

Big T20 Offers, But Cummins and Head Stay with Australia

Cummins currently earns around ₹26 crore from his central contract, captaincy, and match fees. Head earns less than him, even though he plays in all formats.

The huge offer has sparked talks about making the Big Bash League (BBL) a private league. The Australian T20 tournament has been around for over ten years, but player salaries are still not very high.

If IPL-linked franchises invest in it, like they did with England’s The Hundred, it could bring in big money, increase players’ pay, and encourage them to stay committed to Australian cricket instead of chasing big overseas deals. However, Cummins and Head are not the firsts to decline an offer to play franchise cricket throughout the year. Reportedly, Jofra Archer refused a similar deal from the MI franchise in 2023. 

Before the IPL 2025 mega auction, Cummins and Head were kept by their teams. Cummins, the fast-bowling all-rounder, was kept as captain for Rs 18 crore, while Head was kept for Rs 14 crore. Unless Cummins stops being captain, which seems unlikely, he will probably earn the same amount in next year’s IPL too.

Travis Head Chooses Australia Over Other T20 Leagues

Before deciding to prioritize playing for Australia, Head weighed his options carefully. He participated in the IPL, then played in the 2024 T20 World Cup, and later joined Washington Freedom in Major League Cricket (MLC).

“I played MLC to get a taste of what it would be like to play franchise cricket,” Head told the Sydney Morning Herald. I had IPL into 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. 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 get back into that. It was a perfect time in my life [to do that], then that time moves past,” he added.

“Currently I’m playing for Australia, and I don’t see a timeline where I can play anything [else] really. The IPL takes a big chunk of things, and I want to commit, as much as I can, to Australia. I missed a tour in the West Indies for some rest, which I needed. Ideally, I wouldn’t want to do that, but in the current situation we’re in, we need to plan the year out. If I’m missing cricket for Australia, I’m not going to fill in games in the MLC or the Hundred [in the UK], ” Head added.

Travis Head on Klaasen and Players Making Their Own Choices

Travis Head said that there’s no strict rule about what players should or shouldn’t do when it comes to cricket. While many see playing international cricket as the ultimate goal, some players may choose different paths for personal reasons. He emphasized that people should respect those decisions, as players today have opportunities that weren’t available before and are making choices to find satisfaction in their careers.

“I spent a lot of time with Klaasen over a period of time while he was making decisions,” Head said. I don’t think there’s any written rule on what you should or shouldn’t play or what you should or shouldn’t give up. There’s an idea on what people should think, and what they should do. Playing international cricket is the pinnacle. A lot of people hold it so high in regard, but some people don’t. People have got to respect that there’s no one way to go about it."

“A lot of people would give their left nut to play international cricket, and that comes from someone who’s played a lot of cricket or someone who’s played none, who wants to do it. So when someone gives up that opportunity it’s ‘why are you doing it?’ But there’s a reason, and you’ve got to respect that. What’s happening in the world at the moment is people have opportunities to make those decisions, which we’ve never had [before]. So it’s hard to knock someone who is making a decision in their own personal state and trying to get job satisfaction. Fair play,” he said.

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