Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and Ravi Shastri to meet Vinod Rai to discuss FTP and salary hike

ICC World Twenty20 India 2016: Semi-Final: West Indies v India

After the cricketers' annual contract expired on September 30 earlier this year, captain Virat Kohli, former captain MS Dhoni and coach Ravi Shastri will meet Committee of Administrators (CoA) chief Vinod Rai in New Delhi on November 30 to discuss the pay hike for the cricketers and the Future Tour Programs (FTP) among other issues.

According to sources close to the Indian Express, the players have requested a raise in their salaries, especially after a spike in BCCI revenues following the IPL broadcast deal. Currently, the board have divided players into three remuneration categories, and pay the Grade A cricketers ?2 crore, Grade B ?1 crore, and ?50lakh to Grade C players respectively.

“These players requested Rai to call them for a meeting as they have few issues to discuss before going to South Africa. So the BCCI has called three of them. As the third Test is starting on December 2, New Delhi has been chosen as the venue for the meeting. The major issue is the hike in players’ contracts,” a BCCI official said to the Indian Express.

The BCCI have routinely snuck in a series whenever there is a brief gap for players between two major series.

Players themselves have been quite vocal about this issue and recently, Kohli spoke about the lack of time for players to prepare for the South Africa series, as a result of the inclusion of the ongoing India-Sri Lanka series in the calendar.

With the board set to frame a new FTP which will outline clearly the team's schedule from 2019 to 2022, the players do not want the board to squeeze in a series after it is finalised.

“Indian board has the habit of putting a series whenever they find a gap in their calendar. Players don’t want that and want to discuss it with the CoA,” the source added.

The new FTP will also include the Test and ODI championships. The players deserve breaks after playing long series, and it is thus unfair for the board to schedule a series during players' off time. It is good to see the players voice their opinion against the issue, and take necessary measures to stop the BCCI from repeating this in the future.