Booming Rise Of League Cricket: These Cricketers Declined Central Contracts To Play In Franchise Tournaments

After the success story of the Indian Premier League (IPL), many countries have started their own leagues and the money is pouring into the sport. Considering such a scenario many cricketers have been denied central contracts from their national board's top feature in the leagues around the world.

Hyderabad: With the evolution of cricket, the shorter formats are getting more and more popular amongst the fans. The T20I format was kicked off in 2005 when Australia and New Zealand met in Auckland. In recent times T10 is also getting recognition and the fast-paced cricket is preferred by the audiences watching. Also, with the advent of league cricket, cricketers are earning more money by playing across various leagues as compared to playing in international tournaments.

With the cricketers earning more and more money due to league cricket, there have been instances of cricketers denying central contracts to maximise their time to play franchise cricket. Following are the players who were denied central contracts by the national cricket board.

Mohammad Hafeez

The experienced Pakistan batter turned down a contract offer in Category C in 2020-2021 to play in league cricket. According to a report by ESPN published back then, Hafeez was unhappy with the lowest grade of contract he offered. However, Hafeez kept playing in T20 leagues across the globe.

Trent Boult

New Zealand’s left-arm pacer Trent Boult opted out from the central contracts in 2022. New Zealand Cricket (NZC) agreed to his request as he wanted to spend more time with his family and wanted to make himself available for league cricket.

Jason Roy

Roy terminated his contract before its completion in 2023 to take up the lucrative offer in Major League Cricket (MLC). The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) agreed to his decision and also assured that his selection in the international side won’t get affected after the move.

Jason Holder, Kyle Mayers, and Nicholas Pooran

The Caribbean trio declined the central contract in 2023.

Afghan trio sanctioned

The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) sanctioned the trio of Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi and Naveen ul Haq in 2023 for wanting to opt out of the central contract and asking for No Objection Certificate (NOC) to take part in the various T20 leagues. ACB released a media statement saying the players have been penalised ‘prioritising their personal interests over playing for Afghanistan’.

New Zealand cricketers preferred central contracts

There has been a flux in the number of New Zealand cricketers opting out of the central contract. Kane Williamson and Lockie Ferguson first withdrew their names from central contracts to play in franchise cricket. Adam Milne, Devon Conway and Finn Allen also followed the same path months later withdrawing from the central contracts offered by the board.