It is good to see Kapil Dev and other Indian cricketers take part in a game with the filmstars eleven to raise funds for the tsunami disaster. Cricket and films are popular with the Indians and they will no doubt come forward to contribute their bit along with their favorite cricketers and filmstars. Some of the Indian internationals who have taken a break after the Bangladesh series are making their comeback to the game and this is as good as any event to start preparing for the series against Pakistan. The BCCI too has given its okay to the players to participate in the game but having done that, the parent body now needs to revisit its policy about benefit matches for past cricketers.
Some time back the BCCI decided that benefit matches for former cricketers would be played only after the main season was over which in effect means that only after mid-April every year, can a needy former cricketer have a benefit game. Of course a cricketer can also opt for a Ranji, Duleep, Deodhar Trophy game as his benefit game or if he has been good enough to play 100 Tests then he can opt for a limited overs international as his benefit game. Since more one-day matches are played than Tests the BCCI had also graciously allowed three one-day series to be counted as one Test match. So if a player played 60 Tests and 120 One dayers then it would total 100 Tests and he could have a limited overs international against a touring team as his benefit game. So a player who wants one of the limited over games against Pakistan as his benefit game he can get it if he has met the BCCI criteria of 100 Tests. He has to choose one of the venues, though of course that venue will not be too pleased to lose out on the revenue from such a high profile game as the India-Pakistan cricket encounter is. However this option is only for the top notch players and there are plenty others who also have contributed to Indian cricket who have to scramble around to get a benefit game.
The BCCI’s restriction to have the matches before the season begins or after it ends was with a view to discourage masala matches, but what it has ended up doing is virtually ensuring that there are no benefit matches played at all. There’s hardly any income from a Ranji, Duleep, Deodhar game simply because no international players play it or even when they do, it is a last minute decision which does not give the beneficiary the time to organize the game properly to ensure that there is a healthy purse at the end of all the efforts. By the end of the season there’s an exodus of players to play in England and most Indian internationals are too tired to play for a former player so the BCCI’s directive has not helped at all. Almost all the benefit games which are arranged are not very serious and between some sponsor XI versus another Sponsor XI. Its hardly taxing on the energies of the players and the intention is to have a good time. The tsunami game is exactly like a benefit game would be but with more hoopla than a benefit game.
So the simple point that one is making is that if BCCI has made an exception then why not also extend the same to help its own former cricketers. Even when BCCI sanctions the benefit game it does not guarantee a date, so the players often arranges a game and then finds at the last minute that the BCCI has fixed some tournament overseas or some game somewhere and so has to cancel everything and is left saddled with the expenses of arranging the game.
Earlier this season, Vijay Mohan Raj was given the opening game of Australia’s tour with the Ranji Champions at Hyderabad. Then after he had done the running around trying to get sponsors, etc, the match was shifted to Cricket Club of India, Mumbai at the last moment. So as of today instead of a benefit purse Raj is having expenses to settle.
There are some other cases like Vijay Mohan Raj who have been ditched at the last moment and because they are desperate to have a benefit game and so do not want to antagonize the authorities they have kept quiet. The BCCI must look at helping former cricketers and it’s not just Test and international players but those who have played Ranji Trophy for a long time but were unlucky not to play for India.
Now that the Pakistan dates are finalized even though the venues aren’t, there is scope for India to go to Sharjah for the Cricketers Benefit Fund Series because here again former cricketers as well as current cricketers will get a benefit. The ICC Anti Corruption Unit has cleared Sharjah as a venue and so there are no more any question marks about it. Over the years, the CBFS has given millions of US dollars as benefit to innumerable cricketers from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka as well as great cricketers from other countries. The only condition is that it goes to the cricketers from the countries participating in its tournament. Since India has not gone for a few years, Indian cricketers have not got any benefit purses. If India does make it then three categories of cricketers will benefit — those who played and retired before 1976, those who played and retired after 1976 and one current cricketer.
The BCCI has got the list done according to seniority and there’s no ambiguity or confusion there. If any confusion is there, it is whether there is clearance from the government. If the government has no objection, then BCCI must seriously consider going to Sharjah if only to help its cricketers.
The next engagement for India after Pakistan will be towards the middle of July so there will be more than two months rest after the Sharjah tournament for Indian players. If the BCCI professes to care for its cricketers then its high time they took their hands out of their own pockets and help fill the pockets of those who have given their sweat toil and tears for the country.
