COA receives proposal to implement five-fold hike in players’ Central Contracts 

THE COMMITTEE OF ADMINISTRATORS (COA) has received a proposal to consider a five-fold hike in the Central Contracts of Indian players in order to reclaim Test cricket's top status in the age of increasing popularity and dominance of the T20 format. 

As reported by PTI, a senior official working closely with the Lodha Committee sent a note to the COA with suggestions that the top grade of the Central Contracts be revised from the current Rs 1 crore to Rs 5 crore. It is learnt that at present, Grade A players earn Rs 1 crore while Grade B and C players get a yearly remuneration of Rs 60 and 35 lakh respectively excluding their match fees which is Rs 15 lakh for the first XI men in the five-day games.

Speaking about the proposal, a top BCCI source stated,

"It is a novel proposal as it will mean that youngsters who are getting such massive salaries from IPL franchises realise that the real cricket is beyond the Rs 2 crore that they earn for 45 days. Not every cricketer has multi-million endorsement deals. The real incentive should be playing Test cricket."

The proposal has come in the aftermath of IPL 2017 player auction, which saw successful Test cricketers like Cheteshwar Pujara, Ishant Sharma and Irfan Pathan get the boot from eight franchises. Talking about capital earned from TV commercials, the BCCI official further added,

"As a brand, it is Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who are marketable stars among the current players as far as TV Commercials are concerned. It is very difficult to find brands consistently for a Pujara or say an Umesh Yadav. But they are performers in their own rights. Not everyone will remain marketable once their 10-15 year career is over. If BCCI is able to provide that cushion, there is no harm."

A former support staff of IPL franchise divulged that he was perplexed at how the likes of Pujara and Ishant went unsold at the time when inexperienced lesser famous names attracted bids at the recent event in Bengaluru. 

"There is a Delhi player, who has been picked by Gujarat Lions for Rs 10 lakh. It's the lowest base price. But this boy has failed to make it to the Delhi T20 playing XI post 2014. So where did he perform and make a case for himself? And what exactly is the message that you are sending to a Priyank Panchal, who has close to 1500 runs this first-class season. You are just bracketing him as a first-class player." 

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