IPL bound Australians to receive payments of $18 million even on missing the remaining tournament

IPL bound Australian players will receive payments to the tune of $18 million even if they do not return to play the remainder of the tournament, thanks to their insurance policies. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the IPL Governing Council took a unanimous decision to suspend the IPL indefinitely after Covid-19 cases were reported across three different camps in different cities.

While the Board president Sourav Ganguly stated about doing a “post-mortem” and looking behind the reasons why such a breach occurred despite the strict regulations in place, it is understood that there were quite a few incidents, primarily travelling to different cities owing to the cluster-caravan model, which would have contributed to the virus’ spread inside the bio-secure environment.

Meanwhile, the BCCI is currently mulling over all possible windows for the conduction of the remainder of the tournament, the scrapping of which, as per the BCCI’s early estimates can be a whopping INR 2500 Crore. Ruling out any possibility of conducting the same in India, Ganguly in a recent interaction informed that India’s tour to Sri Lanka and the difficult quarantine management are two reasons why IPL 2021 cannot be conducted in India.

As the Board’s quest to stage the cash-rich league goes on, the voices from other corners about prioritizing international commitments over the rescheduled IPL have started to come in. Ashley Giles, England men’s director of cricket, mentioning the “full FTP schedule” from June onwards is the first indication that the English players might not be available for the tournament no matter when it is rescheduled to.

No financial loss for Australian cricketers

Several Australian cricketers possess a fat IPL contract. However, since 2011, all franchises have started getting themselves covered with insurance policies for their players should they miss the tournament for any reason. Cancellation of the tournament is also covered in these policies, which comes as a huge sigh of relief for them as they will receive their payments in full even if they do not return.

That said, Australia does have a free window in September, which means that their players can be available should the BCCI manage to conduct the tournament in the small window before the T20 World Cup. However, a busy schedule follows for them as they face Afghanistan in a one-off Test in November followed by the Ashes.