While rich players get richer, domestic players get raw deal

The Board Of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has created a new category (A+) in its contract for players. However, this move has created a rift between officials and the Committee of Administrators (COA).  

The new pay structure comes with the possibility where players like Shikhar Dhawan are up for a sensational 1,300 per cent increment but no visible raise for the domestic players. This has become a bone of contention between BCCI officials and the Supreme Court-appointed COA.

The COA, consisting of Vinod Rai and Diana Edulji, is of the view that Indian players should be brought at par with the best in the world. And Cricket Australia was certainly on their minds before the announcement of annual retainership amounts of Rs 7 crore, Rs 5crore, Rs 3crore and Rs 1 crore respectively. Earlier, the fee was Rs 2 crore, Rs 1 crore and Rs 50 lakh.

The question that BCCI officials are asking is what was the hurry in announcing the contracts when Indian cricket’s media rights are up for grabs with in next three weeks? And why are concerns of domestic players most of whom do not get lucrative hefty IPL contracts, are being ignored?

“The rich players will get richer while the domestic players would continue to struggle,” a senior official. 

The COA had only negotiated with skipper Virat Kohli and coach (Anil Kumble first and then Ravi Shastri) in the last one year to decide on “who should get what”. 

The claim that there will be a huge raise in the salaries of domestic players has no takers in the board. In the last five years or so, a domestic player has been getting Rs 32,000 to Rs 40,000 per day as remuneration. And now by fixing it at Rs 35,000 per day, with slight modifications, COA has done no favour to these cricketers. 

A wait of three weeks or so before a final decision on media rights could well have made the financial situation clearer for BCCI to take an informed decision. In any case, it is the IPL telecast rights of over Rs 16,000 crore that the COA has been playing with while distributing the booty among top players. 

What about officials? 

If Ranji Trophy, players have not been paid for the last two years. And that is because there is a difference of opinion on distribution of payment between COA and the state cricket associations. 

And now with the COA failing to address the issue of raising payments for match officials — umpires, scorers and various other officials — there is palpable unrest within this strata of Indian cricket.

Financial liabilities

It is no secret that BCCI has lost the arbitration case against IPL franchisee Kochi Tuskers and Pune Sahara and need to cough out approximately Rs 1,250 crore in return. There are similar cases related to ED (Rs 2,420 crore), income tax (Rs 540 crore), service tax (Rs 600 crore) and sales tax (Rs 90 crore), which BCCI may have to deal with in future. 

BCCI is  said to be carrying a total financial burden of over Rs 5,000 crore and this could become a reason for conflict between COA and board officials as the case is still pending in Supreme Court. 

Though the office-bearers have not planned to file affidavit against the COA on the issue of players’ payment, the matter of COA crossing its jurisdiction in implementing the Justice Lodha panel reforms could come in for discussion during the next court hearing. 

Who is the boss?

There are allegations that a COA member has interfered in two players — Dinesh Karthik and Jasprit Bumrah — being given undue favours in the new contract list. 

DNA has learnt that Bumrah’s name was originally in the ‘Grade A’ category while Karthik was reeling at lowest ‘Grade C’ in the list was forwarded to COA member. What happened next is only a matter of speculation — from pressure from IPL franchisee to family connections — as the final list mentioned Bumrah in ‘Grade A+’ while Karthik, making a comeback to contracted list after four years, was handed ‘Grade B’ category. 

DNA has reliably learnt that BCCI CEO Rahul Johri failed to convene a formal meeting of senior selectors along with captain before preparing the final list of contracted players. 

Johri apparently only asked the chief selector MSK Prasad to submit a list of players after consultation without following the procedure.