BCCI has decided to double the payment for its contracted players. The players will now get Rs.2 crores, Rs. 1 crore and 50 lakhs in their respective categories.
Ravi Shastri, former captain and the mentor and advisor for Greycells Education, is not happy with the hike, though. He says it is peanuts. His citing of the higher pay that the Aussies get may not convince most of the people. Either Shastri thinks a peanut is the size of a boulder in a pyramid in Egypt or he is so rich that the amount 2 crores sounds like pocket money to him, they might say. He is the team director after all and his opinion carries weight.
Shastri says that the Grade ‘A’ players should get the highest retainer fee. He was answering questions on the next IPL and the absence of the sensational Cheteshwar Pujara in the series. Shastri was liberal in using adjectives like highest and massive to describe the pay he wanted Grade A Test players to receive. Pujara is good enough to get a pay equal to the world’s top players. This will let Pujara not to worry about whether he is playing IPL or not. County cricket lasting two months will satisfy him.
For the records, Cricket Australia pays the captain Steve Smith Rs.5.53 crores. The 19 other Central Contract players get Rs.4.45 crores. Test matches make them richer by 6.88 lakhs, ODIs by 3.44 lakhs and Twenty20 matches by 2.45 lakhs. When you will compare the payments the two countries make, you will fail to spot peanuts anywhere.
Head coach Anil Kumble has handed over a contract proposal to the Committee of Administrators (CoA) appointed by the Supreme Court. A meeting to discuss the matter is likely to be held.
Experts say that the share of a player depends on his game. Messing around while playing will cost the player dearly. If the money manages to do extraordinary things for them, no one is about to complain.
