The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) four-member Committee of Administrators got a proposal to consider a five-fold hike in central contracts of the players to ensure that the Indian Premier League (IPL) doesn’t lure away several lesser-known players with exorbitant amounts, reported PTI
A prominent member, who has worked closely with the Lodha Committee on the constitutional and structural reforms of the BCCI, reportedly sent a note to the COA with a request to revise the existing contracts from the current Rs. 1 crore to Rs. 5 crore. As per the ongoing pay scale, the Grade A players earn Rs 1 crore while Grade B and C players get a yearly sum of Rs 60 and 35 lakh respectively.
The proposal has come days after two unknown youngsters – Thangarasu Natarajan or Mohammed Siraj – headlined the IPL auction with bumper deals of Rs. 3 crore and Rs. 2.6 crore respectively. At the same time, mainstays in the Indian Test cricket team, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ishant Sharma, went unsold.
“It is a novel proposal as it will mean that youngsters who are getting such massive salaries from IPL franchises realise that the real cricket is beyond the Rs. 2 crore that they earn for 45 days. Not every cricketer has multi-million endorsement deals. The real incentive should be playing Test cricket,” a top BCCI source was quoted as saying by PTI.
The proposal also takes into the account the disparity in endorsement deals among players, “As a brand, it is Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni who are marketable stars among the current players as far as TV Commercials are concerned. It is very difficult to find brands consistently for a Pujara, or say, an Umesh Yadav. But they are performers in their own rights. Not everyone will remain marketable once their 10-15 year career is over. If BCCI is able to provide that cushion, there is no harm,” the source added.