Top Australian cricketers may not feature in the following editions of the IPL

Cricket Australia have been reported to have offered five top Australian cricketers three year long contracts in lieu of keeping them away from playing in the IPL. The list of cricketers includes the captain, Steve Smith and vice-captain, David Warner along with the best lot of pace bowlers in the country, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.  The CA and the Australian Cricketers’ Association, ACA have been at loggerheads regarding a new pay deal for the players.

The CA has maintained that it wants the players to avoid injuries and rest during their off season in April and May and there is no other motive behind the move. The dispute between the CA and the players has intensified owing to an email from CA chief executive James Sutherland that urged the players to sign the new deal before the June 30 deadline or risk not playing for their country. “In the absence of the ACA negotiating a new MOU, players with contracts expiring in 2016-17 will not have contracts for 2017-18,” Sutherland wrote. “To be very clear, in the absence of a new MOU, CA is not contemplating alternative contracting arrangements to pay players beyond 30 June if their contracts have expired.”

The players, who generally get contracted for a year, have claimed the offer to be underwhelming and many of them have taken to social media to put up a fight. Mitchell Starc put up a sarcastic tweet which read,

https://twitter.com/mstarc56/status/863352987325931520

Meanwhile, the BCCI has chosen to not confront the CA or ICC regarding this matter after being advised by the CoA against it due to growing tension between ICC and BCCI due to the dispute over the new revenue model. As cricket on the field continues to happen almost oblivious to the turmoil it is facing off it, the governing bodies must resolve their issues amicably with the best interest of the sport in mind.