'IPL changed International cricket's monopoly' - Pat Cummins believes IPL has huge impact on International cricket

Beginning on June 7, Australia and India will square off in the World Test Championship final. Both teams are going for their first championship. The Indian team, captained by Virat Kohli at the time, suffered a disappointing loss to New Zealand in the inaugural final of the 2021 tournament. The Aussies, who placed first in the 2023 competition, will be looking to inflict a second consecutive heartbreak on the Indian team.

However, Australia captain Pat Cummins made a pretty blunt statement about the IPL before the final, saying that it had a certain "monopoly" over the players' schedules. Trent Boult's decision to turn down a lucrative T20 league contract for New Zealand, according to Cummins, has been in the works ever since the IPL transformed the game a decade ago.

"International cricket doesn't have a monopoly on players' time like it did in the past. The IPL changed that a decade ago, but there's just going to be more and more content that creeps in, so I think we've got to be proactive about that. We have to keep making playing for Australia as special as we can, keeping a high performance to get every single player wanting to play for Australia as much as we can. That's going to be the challenge," Cummins was quoted as saying by CricTracker.

We've got to keep selling why playing for Australia is so special: Pat Cummins

Cummins further added and said that it will be challenging in the current environment of financially lucrative franchise-based leagues to get his colleagues to value national duty above all else.

"I think it's upon us now, and we've got to start thinking about that quite deeply. I think fast-forward a few years' time, a 12-month international calendar might look a little bit different. When you're talking about some of the opportunities that may be provided through the franchises, I don't think you can blame players that might take that option. 

I see the day when that (a franchise release) happens. I think it's reality. You've seen it in other sports. So again, we've got to keep selling why playing for Australia is so special. And making sure there is some flexibility to try and get the best out of these guys. We still want the best players winning World Cups for us, winning big series. But obviously, there are more competing interests than there were in the past." he added.