Australia’s Pat Cummins advocated for a dedicated window for Tests so that players, who wished to play franchise leagues, could sort out their individual schedules.
“Franchise cricket for some countries is more lucrative, more appealing than international cricket. If I went and played franchise cricket, I could probably be away for a half or a third of the amount we are for Australia,” Cummins said at the MCC World Cricket Connects 2024 at Lord’s.
“In Australia, Test cricket is from November to January, and basically, no other cricket is going to get in the way of us playing Test cricket then. If we can have specific windows for IPL, but then also Test windows, that makes the decision-making for the players a lot easier,” he added.
“I support the concept of finding Test match windows, where there are periods in the year when only Test cricket is played and we have a number of series going on in different times,” West Indies CEO Johnny Grave echoed similar sentiments speaking to this publication earlier.
“It might be a test match starting in Sydney or Wellington, then Kolkata or Dhaka followed by one starting at Lord’s or Newlands and then one starting at Kennington Oval so eight Test teams, four Test matches filling up almost the entire 24-hour clock,” Grave added.
In 2025, Australia could play the World Test Championship final in June, right after the conclusion of the IPL, followed by the tour to the West Indies, which includes two Tests, three ODIs and as many T20Is.
The Indian Premier League now has a specific window every year across April and May, where not too many Test matches take place.
Earlier in the year, England captain and Rajasthan Royals’ swashbuckling opener and England captain Jos Buttler had stated that no international games should take place at the same time as the IPL. “In my personal opinion, there should never be any international cricket that clashes with IPL,” he said speaking Sky Sports
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First uploaded on: 07-07-2024 at 18:40 IST