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Australia captain Pat Cummins has hailed his teammates for letting go of big money at The Hundred to play in the Test series against Bangladesh while weighing in on country versus club debate.
Cummins feels there's a 'tension point' when he was asked about the balance between international and franchise contracts. He pointed out how Indian franchise owners have stakes in various T20 leagues, attracting Australian cricketers. He talked about how there have been a few relaxations for players as Cricket Australia (CA) doesn't want to lose them.
"I think it's at a tension point. It has been for a while, but I think it's only growing,” Cummins said as quoted by cricket.com.au.
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"As each of these franchise leagues get well capitalised, get more sophisticated - some of these Indian franchise owners are now branching out and owning different leagues.
"What we experience in Australia and in England is Test cricket is very well supported, the Test summer has big crowds and a lot of attention. That's not the same for every other international side. Every country has slightly different challenges.
"As Australian captain, something we speak about is how do we make sure we've got our best Australian guys to choose from when we're picking a Test side or an ODI side, because there is so much demand for them elsewhere.
"Even the way we contract players and talk about whether we let players go or not has evolved a lot in the last five or so years, because we don’t want to lose them, so you've got to give them a little more leash than maybe you did previously."
'Saying no to half a million pounds for 20 days' of work'
Cummins is currently in India, working on his fitness ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. The Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) skipper is set to miss a few games as he has faced troubles with stress in lumbar area.
The Australian Test skipper also talked about players foregoing big pay-checks by skipping The Hundred auction. The list includes the likes of Travis Head, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood. However, he feels that in future, all Australian Test players may not take the same route.
"The interesting point is, big Ashes series, all the main guys want to play that series," said the 32-year-old. "(But), for example, during the Hundred this season we've got two Test matches against Bangladesh.
"All our guys that will play in that Test (series) have opted out of going into the Hundred auction – but that's not going to be the case forever.
"Some of our guys are saying no to a half a million pounds for 20 days' work to go and play those two Test matches against Bangladesh – so I think it is a tension point.
"This is the essence: our guys are so keen to play for Australia that they're happy to forgo that, but I don't think we can just accept that's always going to be the case forever."
SRH's overseas fast-bowling stocks
Meanwhile, Cummins has confirmed that he is looking forward to play the second half of the tournament and the finals. He said that he is still recovering but back to bowling in the nets every third day. In his absence, SRH have acquired the services of England’s David Payne as an injured Jack Edwards' replacement. Also, fit-again Eshan Malinga has joined the squad. They also have England's Brydon Carse in the lineup.
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