Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive Todd Greenberg confirmed that Pakistani players contracted for the Big Bash League (BBL) 2025-26 will be available for the entire season. Greenberg said that despite Pakistan being scheduled to tour Sri Lanka for T20Is in January, Pakistani cricketers would give priority to their BBL commitments.
There was uncertainty over the availability of Pakistan players for the BBL after the PCB announced the T20 series in Sri Lanka. Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan, Shadab Khan, Haris Rauf and Hasan Ali have joined the BBL and the schedule has raised doubts over their availability.
They will play full BBL – CA CEO Todd Greenberg on Pakistani players
Cricket Australia is confident that Pakistani players contracted to the Big Bash League will stay for the entire tournament. Speaking in Adelaide ahead of the third Ashes Test, CA chief Todd Greenberg said the board has been assured the BBL contract will not be withdrawn midway.
“We have been told that if he is contracted by the BBL, he will play the full BBL,” Greenberg said.
Australia will travel to Pakistan for a T20I series ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026. However, the schedule of the T20I series has not been confirmed yet. As part of changes to the future tour schedule, the ODI leg of the tour will be pushed back to June after the IPL and PSL are over.
We just sent some people to Pakistan – Todd Greenberg
Greenberg also confirmed that plans for Australia’s T20I tour of Pakistan ahead of the T20 World Cup are in progress. Although the dates are still to be finalised, Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers’ Association have already sent representatives to Pakistan to assess the security arrangements.
“We have sent some people to Pakistan for the pre-tour for the T20 matches in February,” he said. “We’re going to have some conversations with the players after this [Ashes] Create the chain and explain to them how it will work with security. But I went there with them in 2022 and it was an amazing experience.”
The pink-ball test was incredible – Todd Greenberg
Todd Greenberg said that night sessions during pink-ball Tests attract far more spectators than traditional day games. He said Australia will host at least one pink-ball Test by 2031. Greenberg said this plays an important role in increasing interest amid the changing nature of Test cricket.
“I’ve just reviewed the stats at the Gabba, the pink-ball Test was unbelievable,” Greenberg said. “Notably, the viewership in the night session is double that of today’s last session. There is no doubt that this is a successful occasion for cricket. There are more people watching and more people attending.”
“It’s in our broadcast contracts until 2031 that we will play pink-ball Tests. So it’s not going anywhere. It’s not going to be anything more than that, I’m not going to play in five of them in the summer. But there are real benefits to it. I understand there will be people who will criticize it, and I’m not asking everyone to like it. But it’s the evolution of Test cricket.”
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