Nagpur: India captain Virat Kohli and former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni are set to request the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) chief Vinod Rai for a substantial hike in the central contracts but it may be easier said than done as it is going to require the approval of the general body of BCCI.
The Indian cricketers’ central contracts saw a two-fold rise with top players in Grade A earning rupees two crore annually. Earlier, they were drawing rupees one crore.
Despite the hike in annual contracts, the players are apparently still not happy and erstwhile coach Anil Kumble had given a presentation to the CoA about raising it to rupees five crore for Grade A cricketers.
The CoA, in its third status report submitted to the Supreme Court, April 6, had stated about the proposed recommendations on restructuring of central contracts.
“Unlike reports that players want share from the IPL broadcast revenue, they have never ever said anything like that. Yes, they have spoken about a respectable rise. The CoA also understands that their payment structure needs revision,” a senior BCCI office bearer, who has been in touch with Kohli, told this agency Tuesday.
Currently the Indian players earn less than eight per cent (7.8 percent) of BCCI revenues and that is something that Rai wants to change. However, unless the general body of the BCCI approves the revised pay structure, the players won’t be getting what they want at this point of time.
“Now let’s consider a situation wherein Virat or MS (Dhoni) requests Mr Rai to consider a pay hike. He can easily tell them that he had already given his recommendations to the Supreme Court. Now any fund disbursement of the BCCI would require approval of the general body,” informed the official.
“A special general meeting needs to be summoned where all the members will be taking a call on this issue,” the official added.
The Indian players believe that someone like Cheteshwar Pujara, who doesn’t have a lucrative IPL contract, should be adequately compensated for his skills at the ultimate format and that is Test cricket. Similarly someone like Dhoni doesn’t play the Test format but is part of the other two.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) already have a separate salary structure for red and white ball cricket. In his presentation earlier in the year, Kumble had suggested the BCCI to adopt the same path.
Press Trust of India
