NEW DELHI, 6 July 2004 — India’s top cricketers will be offered graded contracts this month, officials said yesterday, correcting an anomaly that saw untested rookies earning the same match fees as superstar Sachin Tendulkar.
The players will be divided in three categories, with top rung players like Tendulkar and captain Saurav Ganguly getting annual salaries of six million rupees (approx $134,000), the second slab earning three million rupees ($67,000) and the third 1.5 million rupees ($33,500).
Besides the retainers, the players will also get match fees of around 200,000 rupees ($4,500) for a Test and 160,000 rupees ($3,500) for a One-Day International. The reserves will, however, be given only 50 percent of the match fees.
The contracts, to be reviewed annually, will be formally announced by Indian cricket chief Jagmohan Dalmiya after a meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in New Delhi on July 18 and 19.
BCCI secretary Karunakaran Nair said the graded system of payments, which has been under consideration for the past two years, will be valid from the Asia Cup limited-overs tournament to be played in Sri Lanka from July 16 to Aug. 1.
Indian cricketers, who till now were paid only match fees ranging from 260,000 rupees for a Test and 225,000 rupees for a one-dayer, will join their counterparts from other Test-playing nations like Australia and South Africa who have similar contracts.
Who goes under which category — depending on their value to the Indian team — will be decided by a committee comprising the BCCI president, coach John Wright and chairman of selectors Syed Kirmani.
It is expected that senior players like Tendulkar, Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Venkatsai Laxman and Virender Sehwag will be placed in category A.
The contracts will be offered only to those who have played a minimum of three Tests or 10 One-Day Internationals. Those who do not have contracts will also be eligible for international cricket and will only be paid match fees.
“This is the best thing to happen to Indian cricket,” said leg-spinner Kumble, a veteran of 14 international seasons who helped draft the contracts. “The players will feel financially secure and not be worried where their next rupee would come from in case they were injured.
“It also benefits the board because the players will now be under the strict supervision of the BCCI even during the off-season.
“A player cannot offer to relax because one bad season may see him not only being downgraded but pushed out of the contracts system altogether,” Kumble said.
Legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev also welcomed the move. “In our time, players who were injured were not paid and that hurt a lot,” he said. “Now players can relax and not be worried about their future.”
Australia to Push ICC to Make World XI Games Official
In Melbourne, Australia, Cricket Australia will press the International Cricket Council (ICC) to give next year’s matches against the Rest of the World official status.
Australia are likely to face a composite World XI in three one-day matches in Melbourne and a six-day Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground in October 2005 in the ICC’s inaugural Super Series championship.
The one-day matches will be played on Oct. 5, 7 and 9 and the Test from Oct. 13.
The ICC has promised to keep the international calendar clear to guarantee players like the West Indies’ Brian Lara, Indians Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, Pakistan express bowler Shoaib Akhtar and Sri Lankan off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan can all play against Ricky Ponting’s champion side.
Australia have not yet confirmed their place in the matches, but can do so by avoiding big defeats in the coming series against India, New Zealand and Pakistan and retain their place on top of the ICC’s Test and One-Day International ladders by April 1. Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said he will urge the ICC to give the matches official Test and one-day status, as opposed to exhibition games.
“I think the matches are big enough and worthy enough of having official status so they do go in the record books,” Sutherland said yesterday.
“That’s something we’ll certainly be talking to the ICC about to see if they can readdress that issue.”
That view was supported by Australian opening batsman Matthew Hayden, who said the concept gives his team extra incentive to remain on top of the world rankings.
“I’d prefer to see it have Test match status,” Hayden said in Darwin yesterday. “I think it’s an excellent opportunity and a great honor for Australian cricket. “It’s unique ... a genuine best of the era of the side versus what’s been a really great Australian cricket side. It begs to be a great competition.”
