Cricket’s biggest stars aren’t fading—they’re cashing out. And they’re doing it on their own terms.
In the past week alone, Heinrich Klaasen and Nicholas Pooran—two of the most electric performers in T20 cricket—sent shockwaves through the game by stepping away from international duties. Their reasons are clear, and they’re stamped with currency signs. Klaasen, for instance, was retained by Sunrisers Hyderabad for ₹23 crore ahead of IPL 2025. Compare that to the ₹3.85 crore he could make annually from South Africa’s central contract including commercial rights—there’s no contest. Add earnings from SA20 (₹2.17 crore), The Hundred (₹2.3 crore), and MLC (₹1.5 crore), and the logic becomes inescapable: franchise cricket is the golden goose.
Nicholas Pooran’s exit was equally dramatic. At just 29, he was in peak form, smashing 524 runs in IPL 2025 at a strike rate of 196.25. His paycheck? ₹21 crore for 14 matches. That’s over ₹1.5 crore per game. For comparison, his West Indies match fees were a modest ₹1.48 lakh per T20I and ₹1.96 lakh per ODI. Add ₹3 crore from ILT20, ₹2.2 crore from SA20 and ₹1.5 crore from MLC—he’s earning over ₹30 crore across leagues annually.
Meanwhile, Indian players like Axar Patel remain bound to BCCI’s structure. His ₹3 crore central contract, ₹1.38 crore in match fees, and ₹16.5 crore IPL salary still total less than Pooran’s yearly franchise haul—and Axar plays across formats.
This isn't new. Trent Boult gave up a ₹2.75 crore NZC contract in 2022 and made ₹12.5 crore in IPL 2025 alone. Jason Roy walked away from England’s ₹1 crore deal to earn ₹1.75 crore in one MLC season. Quinton de Kock? Out of Tests at 29, ODIs at 30, and now fully freelance.
In countries where cricket isn’t king, the choice is brutally simple: national pride or financial freedom. And increasingly, players are choosing the latter—not out of greed, but survival and sanity. Franchise leagues offer not just money, but control, flexibility, and respect.
The jerseys may change, but the sixes still fly.
