Players are ranked and receive contracts based on importance and the number of games they are likely to play in the cycle, with the lowest player earning a base of $360,645. In addition, players also earn nearly A$19,000 per Test appearance, nearly $8000 per ODI and nearly $5000 per T20I in match payments on top of the base. There are win bonuses on top, with a Test win worth roughly $30,000 per player in total. There is also a CA marketing pool, which contracted players share depending on appearances with commercial partners.

Player pay was already an issue in Australia and at the heart of the BBL privatisation debate. The rising money on offer in the franchise world has led players to consider whether locking themselves into a 12-month CA deal would cost them money over the year.

Players like Marcus Stoinis and Tim David have not had CA deals in recent years, knowing they would qualify for a base upgrade by playing the minimum number of T20Is in a year (six), whilst being able to sign franchise deals freely without the need for NOCs, to maximise earnings elsewhere.

CA got creative this year by offering contracts for only 21 players for for 2026-27 so that fewer players could share more of the unchanged pool despite Australia being set to play an unprecedented 17 Tests (possibly 18) in the financial year. They will only play nine ODIs and five T20Is in the period.

But the priority of paying Test players has been a source of tension for the white-ball players, who feel they can earn more than the offered CA deal if they went freelance. Meanwhile, there are three-format players concerned about what they are missing out on if they have to rest from certain series, or if more minor bilateral series are being played while lucrative franchise tournaments are on.

Cummins articulated this concern in March around playing two Tests against Bangladesh in August this year while letting go of the chance to earn upwards of A$675,000 (US$485,000) to play in the Hundred.

How the issue gets resolved in the short term remains unclear. Australia have two white-ball tours of Pakistan and Bangladesh coming up but they fall in the previous contract cycle. The first games of the 2026-27 cycle are the home Bangladesh Tests in August.

Meanwhile, a group of a dozen high-profile Australian BBL players are understood to be furious over the stalled privatisation proposal. The players had set up a WhatsApp group last October to discuss their long-term options after spending three years frustrated at CA over the pay disparity between them and overseas players. The introduction of the draft and the platinum signing of A$420,000 meant the likes of Luke Wood and Mohammad Rizwan were paid significantly more than Australian players with significantly better T20 records, who were on $200,000-$300,000.

CA was set to renegotiate the MOU with the ACA if they could move to the next phase of their privatisation plan but that fell over when two states did not want to proceed. A hybrid plan is now being devised but discussions with the players have been set aside for the moment.

The BBL stars are now considering their options. It is a unique season coming with the ILT20 moving to November before the BBL. There are Australian players who have been offered A$500,000 to play in the UAE.

Meanwhile, the SA20, which is seen as the major threat to the BBL, is rumoured to start on January 17.

The BBL is likely to run from mid-December until the last weekend in January, as it did last year. It does mean Australian players could play both but would need an NOC to go and would miss the first week of the SA20. It would lead to the farcical situation that happened a couple of years ago when several Australian players benefited from their BBL teams not making finals, which meant they could get to South Africa earlier and earn more money, as contracts are generally prorated on a games played basis. Australia’s Test players, however, would not be available for either as they have a five-Test tour of India that runs from mid-January to early March that immediately follows a four-Test home series against New Zealand in December and early January.

Australian players were furious when Dewald Brevis and Aiden Markram were bought for R16.5 million (A$1.3 million or US$940,000 approximately) at the SA20 auction last year, four to five times more than some of the top Australian contracts in the BBL.

It is understood that the senior BBL stars do not expect that type of money in the BBL in the short term but were hoping to close the gap significantly this year before privatisation redressed the situation in 2027-28.

It is understood that part of CA’s proposal to the states was to increase the salary cap by up to A$1.5 million. The issue for Australia’s players is that the bottom-end players in the BBL earn a minimum of A$52,000, whereas it is only roughly A$17,000 in the SA20, with the two salary caps reasonably similar at around A$3.2 million.

[Cricinfo]

After GT’s whirlwind start, 220 was a base expectation from their innings. By the end of the 19th over, they were on track to finish under it, stuck on 208 for 4. Brijesh Sharma had plucked out Jason Holder’s wicket and given away just four runs in the 19th, varying his pace and bowling into the blockhole. However, his gold-dust over was reduced to a footnote when Tushar Deshpande missed his lines in the last over. Rahul Tewatia maneuvered around the crease to leather back-to-back sixes, before Washington Sundar hit one of his own to drag GT to 229 for 4.

It is the stuff of routine now. The bowler chugs in, bowls a perfectly okay delivery, and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi sends him into the stands first-ball. Saturday night was no different, as Sooryavanshi clobbered Mohammed Siraj across the line over the long-on boundary. Next ball, a Siraj yorker rifled towards the stumps, and Sooryavanshi inside-edged onto his foot and fell to the ground.

Sooryavanshi looked set for another big start, despite limping between wickets, blasting Siraj for three fours in four deliveries. On the fifth delivery, he was rushed into a hook off a fiery bouncer that carried to square leg. In the blink of an eye, Sooryavanshi went from zero to 16-ball 36, then from the middle to the dugout.

Siraj (1 for 55) and Kagiso Rabada (2 for 33) became the first pair of IPL bowlers to bowl through the powerplay four matches in a row. Jurel ventured down the track to plunder a 22-run over against Siraj before the powerplay ended. Rashid would pluck him out soon anyway.

With Sooryavanshi and Jaiswal gone, the onus was on Jurel and Ravindra Jadeja – who clobbered six and four off his first two deliveries – to play against type and shift into fifth gear. But Rashid got the ball to jag and turn off a pitch like no other spinner on the night. He also bowled more legbreaks than googlies – a rarity for him – to keep the batters guessing.

Once Jurel perished, Donovan Ferreira saw the ball turn the other way, past an innocuous front-foot defence. Harsh Dubey soon went for another missed slog, Rashid’s third consecutive dismissal to rattle the stumps. Rashid wore a wry smile when Jadeja swiped him over backward square leg for six in the 14th over. Next ball, Jadeja was trapped lbw in front of the stumps as the ball spun into his pads.

Holder soon mopped up the tail, taking the final three wickets in five deliveries and RR had lost their third game in four matches.

Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 229 for 4 in 20 overs  (Sai Sudharsan 55, Shubman Gill 84, Joss Buttler 13, Washington Sundar 37*, Rahul Tewatia 14*; Brijesh Sharma 2-47, Yash Raj Punja 1-37, Ravindra Jadeja 1-34) beat Rajasthan Royals 152/10 in 16.3 overs  (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 36, Dhruv Jurel 24, Ravindra Jadeja, 38, Shubham Dubey 15, Dasun Shanaka 16; Mohammed Siraj 1-15, KagisoRabada 2-33, Rashid Khan 4-33, Jason Holder 3-12)  by 77 runs

[Cricinfo]