Indian cricket boss Rahul Johri intends to stage an Indian Premier League with international stars later this year, leaving Pat Cummins upbeat his record-breaking payday will come to fruition.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), who indefinitely postponed its Twenty20 money-spinner because of the COVID-19 pandemic, is understandably desperate for it to go ahead in some shape or form.
Cancelling the IPL would mean the BCCI misses out on some $A820 million in revenue.
Any postponement or cancellation of the T20 World Cup, scheduled to run from October 18 until November 15 in Australia, will clear a window on the international calendar for the code's superpower to host its domestic showpiece.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) board is set to discuss the IPL, T20 World Cup and other coronavirus scheduling issues during next week's video conference.
"The flavour of IPL is that best players of the world come and play, and everyone is committed to maintaining that flow," Johri said overnight, adding international players' decision to participate or not would be respected.
"After the current phase of lockdown ends, there is the monsoon. Cricketing activities can start only after the monsoon.
"When flights resume, everyone has to quarantine themselves before playing. We will have to look at how that will impact the schedules, which as it is are tight ... but we are still optimistic."
The IPL could potentially be staged in the UAE if India is not in a position to host games because of the health crisis.
The AFL and NRL, which both have an eye on venues contracted to the World Cup for the majority of October, are keenly watching developments.
Cummins, who was bought for a record $A3.2 million in last year's auction, headlines the list of Australian cricketers with a vested interest.
The gun paceman, who on June 1 will start NSW pre-season training alongside Steve Smith, David Warner and other Test stars, is being kept in the loop by his franchise Kolkata Knight Riders.
"Whenever I speak to the owners of the team and the staff there, they're still really confident that it can be played at some stage this year," Cummins told SEN on Thursday.
"I was really looking forward to playing it for many obvious reasons, hopefully it goes ahead.
"It could be a great way to get back into playing cricket (after the COVID-19 stoppage). It's T20, not as cumbersome on your body.
"We've got a big World Cup that is going to be played at some stage, so playing as much high-quality T20 cricket as we can is great."
Cummins is ready to embrace quarantine periods, biosecurity bubbles and other strict protocols, starting with a range of pre-season restrictions.
"Whatever it takes to get back playing cricket safely," he said.
Australian Associated Press
