BCCI's contracted cricketers yet to receive salaries since October 2019
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) hasn't paid its contracted cricketers since 2019. According to a report in Indian Express, the 27 contracted players are yet to receive the first of quarterly instalments, due since October last year. Notably, the players haven't received fees for two Tests, nine ODIs and eight T20Is the national team has played since December 2019.
Eight contracted players confirmed the development
Reportedly, the total retainer amount due for contracted cricketers annually is Rs. 99 crore. As many as eight contracted cricketers confirmed they haven't been paid in last ten months. The payment for First-class and age-group cricketers, too, has been delayed. Several players from from domestic circuit told Indian Express a final settlement is yet to be made by the board.
Here is how the fees get divided
The payment is divided on contract basis. Grade A+ cricketers Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah get Rs. 7 crore annually. Meanwhile, the other regulars in grades A, B and C fetch Rs 5. crore, Rs. 3 crore and Rs. 1 crore, respectively. The match fees for Test, ODI and T20I is Rs. 15 lakh, Rs. 6 lakh and Rs. 3 lakh, respectively.
BCCI's central contract list (2019-20)
Grade A+: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah. Grade A: Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant. Grade B: Wriddhiman Saha, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Hardik Pandya, Mayank Agarwal. Grade C: Kedar Jadhav, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Manish Pandey, Hanuma Vihari, Shardul Thakur, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar.
Funds as per BCCI's last-released balance sheet
In BCCI's latest balance sheet (as of March 2018) that was made public, the cash and bank balance read Rs. 5,526 crore, including Rs. 2,992 crore in fixed deposits. In April 2018, the BCCI signed a five-year broadcasting deal with Star worth Rs. 6,138.1 crore.
'There payments haven't been credited', says a senior cricketer
A senior cricketer said the board hasn't communicated with players after the new list of contracted cricketers was announced. "The BCCI used to pay the contract money in four installments but now we don't know when the payment will come. Last month, we were asked to raise the invoice for the New Zealand tour in February. The money hasn't been credited yet," he said.
The board needs to fill in administrative positions
BCCI has to appoint a Chief Financial Officer, Chief Executive Officer and General Manager (Cricket Operations) after the contracts of previous functionaries expired. Moreover, the tenures of president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah have been exhausted too as per the board's constitution. The board has already approached the Supreme Court for nullifying the "cooling off" clause so that their positions could be retained.
