File pic
Internet Desk: At last the Indian cricketer’s demand for a pay hike is likely to be granted following a meeting of the India captain Virat Kohli, former skipper MS Dhoni and head coach Ravi Shastri with the Committee of Administrators (CoA) in New Delhi on Thursday. The other important issues to be discussed were the scheduling of series and clarity regarding conflict of interest.
The Indian players’ annual contracts have been due for renewal since August 30. It is learnt that the cricketer’s demand for a pay hike was accepted by the CoA, although the modalities of the latest pay structure haven’t been revealed yet.
As per the annual contract of 2016-17, Grade A players were paid INR. 2 Crore per annum while Grade B and C cricketers received INR. 1 Crore and INR. 50 Lakh respectively. Apart from the amount received through their central contracts, the cricketers were paid INR. 15 lakh per Test, INR. 6 Lakh per One Day International and INR 3. Lakh for a Twenty20 International.
“We had extensive discussions with players on issues that pertain to them directly, which means the number of matches they have to play, the Future Tours Program (FTP) and compensation package etc,” said Vinod Rai, the COA chief after the meeting.
He further added, “In terms of principles on which the compensation package has to be structured, that we have agreed to. It is only a question of numbers. We will now match the revenue with the compensation that each player will receive.”
Recently, Kohli had complained about scheduling of the series,especially ahead of major overseas assignments, to help the players acclimatise to the conditions.
Talking about the FTP, COA chief said, “All the inputs they have to give us were taken and we are going to factor those in. The FTP, we bounced it off them. Presentations have been made and they are in agreement with the FTP so that they get enough rest. Number of days, I can’t tell you as we have not yet worked it out.”
The meeting was also attended by BCCI CEO Rahul Johri and CoA member Diana Edulji.
“All the discussions were very fruitful. They were very receptive. As a consequence of which, they said, ‘For the first time someone is having a dialogue with us.’ Otherwise earlier it used to be decisions taken and communicated to them. All the inputs that they had to give us have been taken,” said Mr Rai.