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The current situation at Cricket Australia is quite tough as a few of their top players are not happy with the new central contract. Along with it, the status of the Big Bash League is also unknown and this has further increased the pressure on the board.

As many as 5 of the senior Australian cricketers haven't yet signed their central contracts with Cricket Australia as per the recent reports. The situation arrives at a time when Cricket Australia's proposal for privatising the Big Bash League is facing a huge blow.

As per reports, CA required support from five of the six state cricket associations for the plan. However, only three associations gave their consent, forcing the board to put on hold its plans to privatise the Big Bash League.

It was believed that the privatization plan would bring more revenue into the Big Bash League and franchises will be able to compete with international T20 leagues financially. It was anticipated by players that this plan would improve their salary and career growth prospects at Australia's premier T20 competition.

However, by failing to convince five out of the six state cricket associations, the proposal did not get through. With the failure of the plan, players are now contemplating their choices as reports suggest many BBL stars might decide to opt for overseas leagues.

Furthermore, there are fears amongst the cricket associations that the private ownership model will lead to a lesser say in team decisions.

Recently Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg acknowledged the issue, revealing that the board is evaluating options to figure out the next steps.

Greenberg said:

"There may be a world where some want to do this, and some don't, or some want to do it now, and some want to do it in another time frame. Option A for us has always been that we do it at the same time to extract the maximum value in the market. But clearly, we're not at that point. So we now have to reassess what comes next."

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Things only became even more compelling following reports that Australia captain Pat Cummins has been presented with a gargantuan USD 12 million deal across three years to continue his services to Australia across formats.

Cummins continues to be one of the largest drawcards in the world of cricket and is captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL, at a reported fee of USD 2 million for every season.

Greenberg insisted that whatever the outcome, a decision on the BBL will need to benefit Australian cricket overall.

He added:

"We have to look at that lens in the decisions that we make. And we've now got some analysis to do if that's the case or not."

As player contracts remain unsigned, questions continue to surround the BBL and Cricket Australia finds itself navigating one of its most difficult periods in recent times.