Australian coach Tim Nielsen is adamant his players will be motivated for the four remaining matches against Pakistan, despite some losing out on thousands of dollars after missing the Indian Premier League.
The biggest loser is Andrew Symonds, who will forego the majority of his $1.35m (Dh5m) pay cheque in the lucrative IPL Twenty20 tournament, currently been played in South Africa.
However, after the ODI series against Pakistan in the UAE ends on May 7, he will be able to play the final five group games – and the semi-final and final should they progress – for his Deccan Chargers franchise.
"They earn a few dollars for playing for Australia as well, so that helps," said Nielsen with more than a hint of understatement. "But every time they put on a cap and play for Australia it is very important.
"When a new guy is presented with his first cap, you see the players in a huddle in the middle of the ground and it is stressed to them by the captain that this is not something to take for granted.
"It is a privilege and we encourage and challenge all the players to remember this, whether they've played 152 games, like Michael [Clarke], or two, like Ben Laughlin. While there will always be opportunities like the IPL, I'd like to think they will choose to play for Australia first."
Players like Symonds, last year's Player of the IPL Shane Watson, and the tournament's leading run-scorer Shaun Marsh have good role-models to follow: Captain Ricky Ponting and leading batsman Michael Hussey, both of whom are not playing in the UAE, opted out of the IPL in order to rest ahead of June's Twenty20 World Cup and the Ashes series. And Clarke, who is leading the side in the UAE, turned down $1m in the IPL for the same reasons.
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