Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and others to earn seven crore each in new BCCI contracts

DHARAMSALA: Even as it excluded pacer Mohammad Shami from the list of contracted players due to a controversy, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) introduced a new A+ category, which includes five players - skipper Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, and pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah, which will ensure them annual contracts worth Rs seven crore each.
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Since the A+ contracts were only meant for those who play regularly for India in all three formats, former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and senior offspinner R Ashwin weren’t included in this top category but have been given A grade contracts.Dhoni has retired from Tests, while Ashwin, having lost his place in India’s limited overs team, is a regular only in the Test side.
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Explaining this new category, a top board official told TOI: “These are internal policy decisions in which we’ve clarified who’ll fall in which grade. Those who’re a certainty in the XI in all the formats have been given A+ contracts. We feel that those who’re playing all should benefit the most,” he said. This, however, is a debatable point because since both Rohit and Shikhar failed to establish their place in India’s Test side during the recent tour of South Africa.
As TOI had reported a few days back, there is a substantial hike in player payments - the contracts were worth Rs 2 crore (A grade), Rs 1 crore (B Grade) and Rs 50 lakhs (C Grade) for the 2016-17 season. At that time too, the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) was in charge, and had hiked the players’ salaries. As per the new contracts for the 2017-18 season, even a ‘B’ grade contract is worth 3 crore, while a Grade C contract is worth Rs one crore.
Clearly, the committee has spelt boon for the Indian cricketers. “The CoA was of the view that the performance and position of Indian cricket needs to be recognised with the fee structure comparable to the best in the world,” the BCCI said in a statement.
The annual contracts are for the period between October 2017 and September 2018.
Curiously, while offspinner Jayant Yadav, who last played a Test for India in the 2016-17, season, found a Grade C contract, the likes of Shreyas Iyer and Shardul Thakur, who are now regulars in India’s limited overs side, failed to bag a contract.
Among the women, World Cup stars Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana have been kept in the top bracket, under which the annual contract is worth Rs 50 lakh.
There was more good news for India’s domestic cricketers - their earning has been raised from Rs 10,000 to Rs 35,000 per match day. Similarly, the match fees for both men’s and women’s cricketers at all levels in domestic cricket have been hiked.
A section of the board, however sought clarity on this raise. “If you add the Gross Revenue Share (GRS) to the match fee of Rs 10,000 that these players get as of now, then it comes around to Rs 30-35,000 only. So, you can’t say that this is a raise unless they say that players will earn Rs 35000-plus their share of the GRS,” he informed. “This is all populist measure, that’s it,” he added.