Kolkata: Ahead of the Champions Trophy this year, Indian skipper Virat Kohli had approached the BCCI for them to look into the financial condition of the Indian cricketers who play just one format of the game. Now, the BCCI has taken a step in this regard and it’s treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry has proposed a restructured plan which is to be discussed and deliberated upon at the board’s financial committee meeting on Friday.
A senior BCCI official, in an interaction with Cricket Next said that he had discussed with Kohli about the players playing just the Ranji Trophy and one format of the game and that Kohli’s take on this makes sense as the financial condition of the youngsters are already taken care of thanks to the cash-rich Indian Premier League.
He said, “Just prior to the Champions Trophy, then head coach Anil Kumble had proposed a pay hike plan for centrally contracted player that also spoke about the captain getting paid extra for his role as leader. That is when Anirudh spoke to Kohli about the matter as it was hard to believe that a team-man like Kohli would be on the same page as Kumble on the captain getting paid extra for discharging the captain’s responsibility. In fact, Kohli went on to say that every player’s interest should be taken care of, but especially those who play just one format should be priority.”
The official further added, “Anirudh and Kohli’s thought process definitely match and he has come out with this proposal which not only looks at the interest of players like Cheteshwar Pujara — only plays the Test format — but also of Ranji Trophy players. It is an issue that was also brought up by Harbhajan Singh as he saw the poor pay structure in domestic cricket.”
The main motive behind this move is the creation of a Test players’ fund where the money would flow in from the IPL auctions and the official further explained this saying, “We will have a cap on the fee for uncapped Indian players and foreign players. The franchise is free to bid for the player to any extent, but the player will only get what is allowed as per the cap and the rest of the money will go to the fund.”
When asked as to whether this move has been taken with an aim to make sure that the young cricketers do not give more priority to T20 cricket, the official said, “Well priorities are for the cricketers to decide. Our job is to pass the right signal and there is no two-way about it that we are as much focused on being the No.1 team in Test cricket as we are keen to dominate the 50-over and T20 format. There should be no wrong signal to any player that playing franchise cricket is more lucrative than playing the longer format.”
The official signed off saying that these things would only materialize into reality if the Supreme Court appointed Committee of Administrators gives a green signal to this proposal.
He said, “Things have changed and it is no longer the BCCI officials who get to take the final call. It has to be sent to the COA for approval and only then can Kohli and BCCI’s vision see the light of the day.”