The Board of Control for Cricket in India has started rolling out delayed compensation to the players, in line with the formula established by a working group led by Mohammad Azharuddin.
Many domestic Indian cricketers faced financial crisis after the Ranji Trophy was shelved in 2020-21 for the first time in history. The women’s game was also severely affected as the T20 competition was cancelled due to the second wave of the pandemic.
The board had announced in September that the players who participated in the 2019-20 season will receive 50% match fees as covid compensation for the 2020-21 season.
It is understood that the board has started clearing the dues of the players from those associations who have sent filled invoices. For the rest, the process is delayed but is expected to be sorted out soon.
“The process is for state units to raise the invoice based on all those who had played in the season prior to COVID-19.
The state units that raised invoices to BCCI have already had its players receiving money in their accounts,”
a BCCI official told PTI.
The compensations are welcome news for the players as the new season approaches, with the Ranji Trophy slated to begin from January 13. However, some late tweaks in the schedule can’t be ruled out given the rise in COVID-19 cases due to the latest Omicron variant.
The BCCI had earlier announced a significant pay hike for domestic players for the 2021-22 season. The new pay caps will offer the senior men’s cricketers INR 40000 to 60000 per day of cricket while the senior women will get up to INR 20000 per day.
The players who have played more than 40 games will get a 100% pay hike, while those who have featured in between 21-40 matches will earn INR 50000.
Earlier, senior men’s cricketers were given INR 35000 per day for First Class and One-Day games and INR 17500 for T20 games per day, irrespective of how many caps they had.
