Availability of global cricketers in Indian Premier League (IPL) has always been a point of big debate. Many former cricketers and experts have voiced their opinions on this issue previously and in a situation like this, former Australia batsman Matthew Hayden has opened up on this matter.
And Hayden is seemingly unhappy with the Australian cricketers as some player are going to miss the upcoming limited-over matches against Pakistan in order to take part in Indian Premier League.
Hayden speaks
“When players are choosing not to play for their country it is a massive flag of concern for your high-performance set-up. I just don’t reckon it passes the pub test,” Hayden was quoted by The Australian.
“The single biggest thing which ties everything together at that level is that you are all really keen to play for your country and if you haven’t got that, I actually question whether you have a high-performance culture at all. I just feel Cricket Australia is being led around by the players lately and that has created a unique set of problems,” he further added.
Unique problems
The former opening batter feels that a cricketers “shouldn’t be able to cherry-pick” whenever they feel like representing Australian cricket team.
“I just feel Cricket Australia is being led around by the players lately and that has created a unique set of problems. You shouldn’t be able to cherry-pick when you want to play for Australia. It does not make any sense to me.
“We all know how important the IPL is and it has its window and I know it can be difficult for players and administrators to operate within the confines of modern schedules but I still think you can’t have your cake and eat it. If you are unavailable to play for Australia there has to be some accountability. You shouldn’t be paid for work you don’t do and should have to salary sacrifice,” Hayden explained.
It is important to mention, that Australian team will play a three-match Test series, scheduled to start on March 4. After the completion of the Test series, two teams will take on each other in a three-match ODI series and one T20I match.