Sunrisers Hyderabad's captain Pat Cummins celebrates the wicket of Punjab Kings' Priyansh Arya during an IPL 2026 game, in Hyderabad, Telangana, on Wednesday, May 6. PTI
Pat Cummins offered Rs 82 crore deal amid mega IPL bid: Report
The move from Cricket Australia (CA) comes amid reports that Cummins and his teammate Travis Head were offered Australian dollars 10 million by an IPL franchise to play for them in global T20 leagues
Australia’s Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins has been offered a massive Australian dollars 12 million (approximately Rs 82 crore) for three years to prevent T20 franchises from poaching him to play global leagues.
Cummins is currently captaining Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in IPL 2026. Last night (May 6), SRH defeated Punjab Kings (PBKS) by 33 runs to move to the top of the table. He had missed the first few games as he recovered from his back injury and was adjudged the Player-of-the-match for his 2/34.
Also read: SRH beat PBKS by 33 runs
The move from Cricket Australia (CA) comes amid reports that Cummins and his teammate Travis Head were offered Australian dollars 10 million by an IPL franchise to play for them in global T20 leagues. However, both players rejected the offer, reports said.
What CA said
According to a report in Sydney Morning Herald on Thursday (May 7), when asked about whether Australia's top players deserved long-term security and better remunerations, CA head of cricket James Allsopp told the publication, “Absolutely. They've earned the right, they've been long-term performers for Australia across formats for a long period of time. There's only so far you can take them under the current constraints. That's definitely a priority at the moment.”
Also read: Salil Ankola battling depression
“It is a really tricky balancing act. One thing we do know is that the market pressure is coming at the players who drive the most commercial value. Your multi-format players like Pat, Josh (Hazlewood) and Trav (Travis Head), there's a lot of demand for those players. So ensuring they remain committed to Australian cricket is a really big priority," he added.
Cummins praises SRH
Meanwhile, Cummins was pleased with SRH’s all-round performance against PBKS.
"Punjab are a really good side. I thought the batters to get off to what we did was sensational. No matter what the score is, bowling second against that side was clinical," Cummins said.
"We're pretty good at playing it at our pace. It's just trying to max out. It gripped a little bit, which suits our bowlers. We've seen it before; we can adjust. I felt really good. Came into this fresh. Not much has worked for any team in the powerplay, really. We've got lots of options," Cummins added.