Virat Kohli not happy with BCCI; asks annual fee of Rs 5 crore for India's A Grade cricketers
What’s the story?
Indian captain Virat Kohli is not happy with the Board of Control for Cricket in India even after the recent pay hike and wants to board to look into the huge discrepancy between the pay of Indian internationals and overseas players.
Kohli has reportedly asked the BCCI for an annual retaining money of INR 5 crores for Grade A cricketers and even compared the huge gulf in the pay between Indian and players from other nations.
“Kohli and his men, along with Kumble, even talked about bonus for the cricketers and how Indian cricketers earned less than some of their counterparts. It is an interesting move and a well-planned one because Kohli has kept the interests of some of the seasoned campaigners in the side. He has not annoyed anyone, nor has he gone overboard to please some. He has even thought of forming a players association to keep alive interests of those in various formats of the game,” a BCCI source was as quoted by Firstpost.
The Details
According to the report, Indian coach Anil Kumble too threw his weight behind the proposal and argued that while International players in countries like Australia, England and South Africa pick up a purse which amounts to around Rs 10-12 crores (inclusive of retainer fee and match fee), a Grade A cricketer in India draws a maximum of Rs 4-5 crores (inclusive of retainer fee and match fee).
The Indian captain is not thrilled with the current state of affairs, more so since the BCCI is one of the most affluent boards in the world right now and picks up a huge chunk of ICC’s revenue.
In case you didn’t know...
The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (COA) rolled out fresh sets of contracts for Indian cricketers. According to the new contracts, the amount of all contracts were doubled which would apply to all the 32 centrally-contracted players.
According to the new arrangement, players like Kohli, Dhoni and five of their teammates would draw 2 crores, while the B and C grade players get INR 1 crore and INR 50 lakh respectively.
What's next?
The COA has now called for a meeting owing to the demands on April 5, 2017. It would be interesting to see the decision the board now takes. Also, the CoA has asked the players to wait until the conclusion of the Indian Premier League.
Author's Take
The demands are pretty genuine from the Indian cricketers and the captain has not crossed any line as he is simply putting the interests of the established Indian cricketers who deserve to get the demanded pay.
Also, the CoA should take into cognisance of the huge market Indian cricket and cricketers drive and owing to the plain demand and supply mechanism they should look to meet the demands of the players.