Corruption in SL cricket goes to the top, says Arjuna
COLOMBO: World Cup-winning skipper Arjuna Ranatunga on Wednesday said corruption “goes right to the top” in Sri Lanka and accused the International Cricket Council of undermining the game by failing to tackle match-fixing. Ranatunga, now a government minister, said cricket corruption in Sri Lanka went far beyond the claims made in an Al Jazeera documentary which aired on Sunday.
Ranatunga said the allegations must be investigated, “but this must have been happening for a long time.”
“This is something that goes right to the top (in Sri Lanka). What they will catch is the small fish. As usual the bigger fish will get away,” he said.
The documentary alleged that a Sri Lankan player and groundsman were involved a pitch-tampering plot and that there was spot-fixing during Tests between India and England, and India against Australia. “I am so disappointed with the ICC anti-corruption unit,” Ranatunga said, referring to previous complaints against Sri Lanka Cricket, which is headed by politician and businessman Thilanga Sumathipala.
Ranatunga has in the past accused Sumathipala of involvement in gambling in violation of ICC rules. Sumathipala has denied the charge. “If they can’t see what is happening in Sri Lanka... they should not sit on this anti-corruption unit,” Ranatunga told reporters.
BCCI TO RAISE PAY FOR SELECTORS, UMPIRES
NEWDELHI: The BCCI has decided to reward the three national selectors with increased remuneration besides doubling the fees of umpires, scorers and video analysts. The decision was taken by the Cricket Operations wing of BCCI headed by Saba Karim and the COA also feels that chief selector MSK Prasad and company should be rewarded. As of now, chairman gets ₹80 lakh per annum while other selectors get ₹60 lakh. The decision to increase the remuneration was taken as two ousted selectors Gagan Khoda and Jatin Paranjpe are drawing the same salary as Devang Gandhi and Sarandeep Singh.
“Since selectors can be only appointed in AGMS, Jatin and Gagan despite not rendering services are drawing a fat salary as per norms. This is being unfair to Devang and Sarandeep, who are criss-crossing the country,” a senior BCCI official said.
It is expected that chairman will get something in the range of ₹1 crore while the two others will get anything between ₹75 to 80 lakh.
An umpire will now get ₹40, 000 per day for a First-class, three-day or 50-over game compared to the earlier ₹20,000.
For T20 matches, it will be ₹20,000 per match from the earlier ₹10,000. For the match referees, it will be ₹30,000 while ₹15,000 for T20 games. The scorers will now get ₹10,000 per match day, save T20 games where they will be paid ₹5000. The video analysts will now get ₹15000 per day for non-t20 games and ₹7500 for the shortest format.