The IPL's requirement that players must be issued a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) by their national board before they can participate in the lucrative event should allay fears the Twenty20 game will harm international cricket.
Andrew Flintoff's refusal to sign an incremental contract from the ECB - worth 30,000 pounds (A$56,580) - has the very real potential of coming back to haunt him.
The IPL introduced the NOC at a meeting earlier this month to prevent players from becoming free agents by refusing to sign contracts with their national board in order to play the entire event.
And Flintoff stands to be a huge loser as a result.
Flintoff is free to play in next year's IPL but his involvement beyond that is in the air as his current NOC from the ECB will have expired.
The 2010 tournament will be the final one before all players enter a major auction for the subsequent three years of games.
Flintoff fetched $US1.55 million (A$1.774 million) in the inaugural auction but, no longer playing Test cricket, stands to earn significantly more this time around due to his increased availability.
If he is not granted another NOC he will have to sit out the auction.
From an Australian perspective, the question will be how much value players place on the baggy green cap.
The more pragmatic youngster may decide to forego Test cricket in a bid to earn large six-figure sums for just six weeks of work.
The direction chosen by 22-year-old batsman David Warner, who does not have a Cricket Australia contract but is a major player in the country's Twenty20 team, will be observed keenly.
Encouragingly, Warner - who is yet to cement himself in New South Wales' Sheffield Shield team - still harbours ambitions to play the five-day game.
"He's played a lot of international Twenty20 cricket but every time he talks, every time he's interviewed, all he wants to do is play Test cricket for Australia," said Test paceman Peter Siddle.
"I think that's a good example. He's pigeon-holed at the moment as that but his main aim in cricket is to one day wear the baggy green."
"The main thrill is walking out and wearing that baggy green and playing a Test match for Australia."
As Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden and Shane Warne have shown, the IPL can offer a lucrative superannuation package.
Warne and Gilchrist are long retired so the requirement to have a two-year NOC issued by CA does not apply to them.
Andrew Symonds had his contract torn up by CA so is better placed than Flintoff to become a gun for hire.
Brett Lee's manager has already indicated his client has no interest in turning his back on the international game.
Seeing his 2009-10 contract is likely to be worth approximately 10 times more than Flintoff's offer from the ECB, his decision is a no-brainer.
"International cricket offers exactly the same amount of money (as Twenty20) from what I can see as far as Cricket Australia's contracts and everything are concerned," said Australia captain Ricky Ponting.
"I don't know what sort of money Flintoff was offered with this ECB contract. We know what sort of dollars are being thrown around with the IPL."