Pay hike likely for domestic cricketers
IF THE REVISED MATCH FEE STRUCTURE IS IMPLEMENTED, EVERY DOMESTIC PLAYER WILL EARN ₹15 LAKH AND ONE FROM ANY TEAM THAT GOES DEEP IN ALL COMPETITIONS WILL EARN OVER ₹25 LAKH
MUMBAI: India’s domestic cricketers may get their bigger payday this term. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (Bcci)could green light this at its apex council meeting on Monday.
In the multi-day Ranji Trophy, a player gets ₹35,000 per day. BCCI has had discussions to raise this to ₹60,000 daily.
The need for review became necessary because the new domestic format has reduced the minimum matches per tournament to five from eight. In the absence of retainer contracts, fewer games mean less earning for players.
If the revised match fee structure is implemented as proposed, every domestic player will end up making around ₹15 lakh annually and one from any team that goes deep in all competitions will earn over ₹25 lakh.
“I really hope they go ahead and do that. I can then say my domestic earnings for which I toil the whole season are more than my IPL money,” said a player with a base level IPL contract.
There are around 135 Indian cricketers who have annual contracts in the Indian Premier League (IPL), which started in the UAE on Sunday. The minimum pay bracket for an Indian in IPL is ₹20 lakh.
That is significantly more than what almost 700 cricketers who don’t have IPL contracts but are part of the India’s 38-team domestic circuit get.
Currently, a regular from the top performing team which makes it to the knockout rounds in all tournaments—ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare one-dayers and Mushtaq Ali T20s—gets ₹15-16 lakh annually.
Domestic contracts
When Sourav Ganguly became BCCI president nearly two years back, introducing domestic contracts was one of his promises.
But in the absence of consensus on whether the state units or the board should pay, that idea has been put aside.
“Even after match fees are raised, the state associations are free to award domestic contracts,” said a BCCI official. “We have to remember that each state unit has a different set up. Many (North-eastern units) are still new to the system, some states bring in outstation players each year, there are others who don’t. So rather than one size fits all, we leave it up to them.”
Most state units though are against introducing contracts. “It will lead to a fresh round of controversy over selection of players,” said Jaydev Shah, president, Saurashtra Cricket Association. “At domestic level, form is not constant. Some players end up playing limited games in a season. An under-25 player may find his way in the main side midway through the season. How many players should be graded? An increase in match fees is a much better idea.”
Shah is also part of a BCCI working group to recommend a compensation package for players, umpires, scorers and others who lost out in earnings from the cancelled Ranji Trophy season last year.
It is learnt the group has proposed a payout of half of what they would have earned from Ranji Trophy. This too will be decided on Monday.