Karachi: Holding the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) responsible for Australian cricket`s decline, former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad said the Aussie players got distracted by the big cash thrown at them by the Twenty20 league.
"I believe Australia`s slump has a lot to do with their players` association with the IPL," Miandad was quoted as saying by `The News` on Tuesday.
"Most of their top players got a bit too distracted because of the big cash thrown at them by the IPL. They even started ignoring national duty which has really caused their downfall," he added.
The Australians, who were almost an invincible lot till about a year back, have completely slumped to disaster, which is evident from their dismal show in the recently-concluded Ashes series.
Australia lost the Ashes series at home 1-3 and wilted to fifth place in the Test rankings.