Umpires pay hike seen as not ideal by EXBCCI secy

MUMBAI: The BCCI’S decision to hike match fees of umpires has been criticised by a senior official who feels they could get more than even senior domestic players. The BCCI has hiked the fees of the top 20 umpires, and the Committee of Administrators has cleared it. At a meeting on April 12, umpires’ fees for senior events (other than T20) was recommended to be raised to ~40,000/ day for the top 20 officials and ~30,000 for others.

Former BCCI secretary, Niranjan Shah, criticised the move. “Though the increase in match fees is welcome, it is surprising the recommended sum for umpires would be higher than that for a domestic senior player, which has been ~35,000/day.” Players are also entitled to a share of BCCI’S annual gross revenue, which is around 10.5 %.

Meanwhile, a notice has been issued by BCCI’S acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary for a Special General Meeting in New Delhi on June 22.