Hales choosing PSL over Bangladesh tour is normal nowadays, from England pundits POV

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England’s former players Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain examine the advantages and disadvantages of the franchise cricket boom as well as whether the international game can fight back.

It cannot have escaped the attention that there is a lot of franchise cricket going on along with international cricket and England are not immune to losing players.

Alex Hales reportedly decided against playing in the three T20 internationals in Bangladesh in March because the Pakistan Super League would pay him significantly more money, while Joe Root skipped the South Africa series to participate in the International League T20.

Prior to the IPL's first season in 2008, the cricketing landscape underwent a fundamental change. While Atherton is happy that players now have many opportunities, he thinks international boards missed the chance to rein in the T20 juggernaut.

Athers believes administrators were "asleep at the wheel" prior to the first IPL and suggests making central contracts more incentive-based.

"I think administrators were asleep at the wheel from the start. I am not saying it was easy but if they had got together to organise the calendar then maybe they could have made franchise competitions pay an amount for a window that could go into a Test match fund,” said

"There were innovative ways to think about it but they didn't think about it as they cannot see beyond the end of the next pay cheque. The game has been damaged now and I don't see any solutions."

Former England captain Nasser, sees franchise cricket as a "double-edged sword" that sometimes hinders cricketers' development while also giving fans what they want and rewarding players financially.

However, Sky Sports pundit opined that if a player doesn’t want to play for the national side it’s not a disgrace anymore as the landscape of cricket has changed a lot.

“The landscape of cricket has changed beyond recognition and we need to get away from, ‘they don’t want to play for England, it’s a disgrace’. Alex Hales could earn £140k playing in the PSL, he might get £25k for playing for England in Bangladesh. Player power is as high as it has ever been and there has to be some give and take,” Nasser said.

“Franchise cricket has already changed the game and there is a lot of good to it - TV companies wouldn't be paying money if they didn't think people were watching it. People love franchise cricket and there is nothing wrong with that. But, with everything, there are repercussions, it is a double-edged sword,” he added.