‘Payments of players not held up’

MUMBAI: Vinod Rai, head of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators, denied a media report that said India team players had not been paid their dues, including match fees, for the past six months.

Rai, however, said in case a few cricketers had not received their payments for any specific reason, it would be rectified within 24 hours. The CoA chief was speaking to the media at a book launch.

On being asked if the players had not received payments because of a friction between the CoA and BCCI’s office-bearers, as claimed by the report, Rai stated: “Totally false. Show me the records and I’ll show you mine that payment has been made.”

He further added that the state associations have also been paid their dues. “Maybe something is held up somewhere. In fact, we have paid state associations also,” he said. “If there still is – I am not saying you are wrong – if there’s somebody who has got left behind, there must be some reason. It can always be rectified and we’ll rectify it in 24 hours. If there’s a particular issue, we will take care of it.”

Hailing the current crop of players, Rai said he felt not enough was being done for them and urged former greats of the game to help improve the game.

“Why do all of us accumulate, collect and go to see the matches, because this set of cricketers performs remarkably on the ground. All that you must’ve been reading about it in the newspapers, it’s unfortunate and I don’t think we’re doing good service to the excellent team we have,” Rai said.

“I would suggest that because of the fact that they deserve something far, far better. There are legends like Kapil Dev, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar who need to in some ways mentor these people and also speak up and ensure cricket administration improves.”