The selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar has been entrusted with providing recommendations on how the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should proceed with its intention to increase the compensation of domestic players. Although it is unlikely that higher match fees will be announced right away, the idea has been explored by the national selection committee. The intention is to prevent domestic players from feeling left out if they choose not to play in the IPL.
Although it is acknowledged that many proposals are being considered, everyone involved in the BCCI agrees that the remuneration for domestic cricket players must be at least doubled. Another school of thought holds that domestic players who have participated in ten Ranji Trophy games ought to be able to make between INR 75 lakh and INR 1 crore a year.
At present, the BCCI offers a daily salary of INR 60,000 to players who have participated in over 40 Ranji games, INR 50,000 to players who have participated in between 21 and 40 games, and INR 40,000 to players who have featured in 20 games. In the same categories, the reserves receive INR 30,000, INR 25,000, and INR 20,000. A senior cricket player might earn up to INR 25 lakh on this scale of remuneration if his team makes it to the final, with the other players receiving between INR 17 lakh and INR 22 lakh.
The players will also profit proportionately from other BCCI competitions, such as white-ball championships like Vijay Hazare and Mushtaq Ali, and there’s a good probability their pay could rise starting in the upcoming season. The BCCI is strategizing ways to optimize the profits earned by domestic players.
The goal of the strategy is to motivate domestic athletes to compete in the Ranji Trophy. In order to lower their chance of injury and maintain their fitness for the IPL, some players refrained from participating in red ball cricket during the previous season. Additionally, the concept aligns with the BCCI’s goal of promoting red ball cricket. As you may remember, BCCI secretary Jay Shah declared that players participating in Test matches would get increased match fees.
Sunil Gavaskar had proposed that the fees for domestic cricket players be doubled or tripled, and he had welcomed the Jay Shah proposal. “If the Ranji Trophy fees can be doubled or tripled, certainly there’ll be a lot more people playing the Ranji Trophy, and a lot less pullouts from the Ranji Trophy, because if the fees of playing a Ranji Trophy match are a good fee, there will be fewer people pulling out for various reasons,” the cricket legend had said last month.
