Australian star and Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Pat Cummins has given his reaction on the new IPL rule which allows the Governing Council to ban a foreign player for two years who pull out of IPL after being picked in the auctions.
According to the decisions made by the IPL Governing Council, "Any player who registers in the player auction and after getting picked at the auction, makes himself unavailable before the start of the season, will get banned from participating in the tournament and player auction for 2 Seasons."
Cummins, who is on a break from limited-overs cricket to prioritise on the upcoming Border-Gavaskar series, has highlighted that he is yet to determine his future in the Indian cash-rich league. "I'll work out what this season looks like in the next little bit. There's a bit of a tweak in the rules, but I don't know whether that would have affected me in the past, I've never pulled out after the auction. But it is one more factor to consider with the IPL," Cummins told Sydney Morning Herald.
Cummins stated that Test cricket is his top priority and his number one job. "Test cricket is the absolute No.1 priority, world cups are right up there, and then I think you use them as your tent poles and work out what else makes sense around that.
"The calendar is never going to get any less busy, and I'm not going to get any younger, so these things have always been considerations, and moving forward will become even more so. But needless to say, playing cricket for Australia, particularly Test matches, is my number one job and priority," he added.
Notably, Cummins is the second-most expensive player in the history of Indian Premier League auctions. He was roped in by 2016 champions SRH for a sum of 20.50 crore at the IPL 2024 auctions. For a brief moment, Cummins became the most expensive player in the auctions but was then leapfrogged by teammate Mitchell Starc, who fetched 24.75 crore by Kolkata Knight Riders.
Cummins took the Sunrisers to the final, where they finished runners-up to the Knight Riders in 2024.