Pat Cummins, Travis Head turn down ₹58 cr each to quit Australian cricket for IPL franchise: Report

Australia captain Pat Cummins and batter Travis Head were offered $10 million (₹58.2 crore) each by an IPL franchise to play T20 tournaments around the world, but the duo turned it down, according to reports.

As reported by The Age, both players showed no interest in the deal. They wanted to continue playing for Australia.

The publication noted that there were no official statements from any parties involved on the matter, including the players, IPL franchise, and Cricket Australia.

Both Pat Cummins and Travis Head currently play for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL, where the Australian captain is also at the helm of Orange Army. He is paid ₹18 crore a season for his IPL stint. Travis Head, the explosive batter, is paid ₹14 crore a season.

Head will next be seen on the ground on October 19 against India when Men in Blue tour Down Under for ODIs and T20Is.

While Cummins has opted out of that series, he is also expected to miss the Ashes opener in Perth this November as the scans revealed his back stress problem had not yet healed. 

Cummins had been battling back soreness since featuring in Australia’s tour of the Caribbean in July and recent scans confirmed a lumbar bone stress to the affected area.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Cummins has no chance for the opener in Perth, starting on November 21, and may even miss all five Tests, leaving Steve Smith as the likely stand-in skipper to face England.

The 32-year-old pacer, Cummins, had the update scan last week to clarify his progress ahead of the Test summer and was told that while the stress ‘hot spot’ was healing, it had not yet cleared up enough for him to bowl, the report added.

(with inputs from syndicated feed)