The player exodus fears driving talks about selling the BBL; Cricket Australia; Mike Baird; Todd Greenberg

Australian cricket risks losing its top players to overseas leagues and missing out on the chance to attract Indian stars such as Virat Kohli unless it opens up the Big Bash League to private investment, Cricket Australia chair Mike Baird has declared.

The proposal to sell up to 49 per cent of BBL teams to private investors, such as Indian Premier League owners, tech moguls and local buyers, looms as the first privatisation of Australian cricket since Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket revolution.

Following this masthead’s revelation that the chairs of three out of six states had written to CA to warn against rushing into private investment, Baird got on the front foot to talk up what he termed the “opportunities and risks” of selling off BBL teams – or choosing not to.

Former NSW premier Baird said he and CA chief executive Todd Greenberg had held a “constructive” meeting with state chairs in Melbourne last week, and still expected a decision on private investment before the end of the year.

Baird insisted there were risks of Australian cricket being “left behind” by other franchise leagues, particularly those with IPL-linked Indian investors, as both local and overseas players looked elsewhere for the best value contracts. The BBL is played at the same time as the South Africa and UAE T20 league, which pay upwards of $1 million for the top players. The top BBL players can earn about $400,000 a season.

“That’s one of the challenges we’re facing,” Baird said of the prospect of Australian players pushing to play in competing leagues in South Africa and the UAE over the home summer. “Whether in sport or business, if you have competitors that are active, and providing opportunities, you need to consider that.

“We’re very confident in the BBL and WBBL, we think they still remain one of the best leagues in the world, but we can’t be complacent, and what we’re seeing are shifts in terms of focus and salaries, and unless we respond, we have a risk of being left behind. That’s something we need to wrestle with.

“The [overseas] investment in players is significant, it’s at an all-time high, and as an administrative body you’ve got to respond to that. So part of what we’re weighing up is how to stay competitive, how do we make the best league for our fans and players, and there’s undoubtedly work to do as the rest of the world is moving.”