Trent Boult has left the building

Trent Boult today rocked the cricketing world by deciding to opt out of the central contract of NZ.

He did this to focus on his family and “optimize” his last few years playing for T20 leagues.

To understand this in more detail, lets look at another bowler who faces a similar quagmire.

In the fifth Ind-Eng test match in July 2022, Bumrah bowled 216 deliveries over 2 days, and was paid 15 lakhs

In IPL 2022, Bumrah bowled 320 balls over 8 weeks and was paid 12 crores

So money paid /ball

IPL- Rs 3,75,000

Test Match- Rs 6944

Each Bumrah delivery in the IPL was 54 times more valuable to him(financially) than each of his deliveries in the Test match.

Same Bumrah, same commitment, same fragile body, just 54 times more money in the IPL, without the pressure of performing for the Indian team

Boult earned Rs 8 crores in IPL 2022 ($1.1M) and would need to play 120 Test matches for NZ to earn the same $1.1M. So can we really be surprised he took this decision. If anything, why not sooner??

Incidentally earlier this week Bumrah was excluded from the team for the Asia cup for an injury that he picked up during the England tour and is expected to be out of action for a few months.

Both these incidents simply highlight the fact, that the rules of the game have changed, and whether we like it or not, we need to respect and understand the decisions players will start making going forward.

This amazing write up in cricinfo really captures the sentiment and the story much better.

If Bumrah or someone at the other end of the playing spectrum like Umran Malik arrives at the same decision as Boult, we shouldn’t be surprised anymore. After all, there are only so many deliveries a bowler can bowl in one’s lifetime.