Existing contract system to continue: BCCI

NEW DELHI: The Cricket Board on Thursday decided to continue with the existing system of contract for the players till the Gradation Committee gives a final shape to a new proposal.

"Existing player contract system will continue. Four senior players met the Contract Committee today and they have agreed to continue with the prevailing system," BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah told.

"Gradation committee will sit towards the end of this month or by October first week to finalise things. It will also decide how many players will come under its purview but. Players are happy with the existing system," Shah added.
   
Indian captain Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble took part in the negotiations after being invited by Board President Sharad Pawar

BCCI Vice President Shashank Manohar, Treasurer N Srinivasan and former President I S Bindra are members of the Contract Committee.
   
Differences between BCCI officials and the players after the World Cup debacle led to a stalemate on the contract issue, forcing the Board to extend the 2005-06 contract by another year.

In the earlier negotiations, Manohar had taken a tough stand and had even called for a performance-linked contracts, meaning that players would be rewarded for victories and penalised in the case of defeats.

According to the existing contract, players in the A grade get an annual retainership of Rs 50 lakhs, while the amount is Rs 35 lakh and Rs 20 lakhs for Grade B and C, respectively.