Domestic players set to earn upto INR 1 crore per season, BCCI to take final call soon: Report

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is all set to take another big step to make domestic cricket more appealing for the cricketers. The board has taken several steps in recent times to ensure that the players give due importance to domestic cricket.

Earlier this year, the BCCI issued a directive to the players as it made it mandatory for the cricketers to represent their state teams when they are not playing for Team India. The board had to take the step after several players avoided playing in the Ranji Trophy to keep themselves fit for the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The BCCI is now reportedly considering increasing the remuneration for domestic players. While the board is yet to take a final call on the matter, it has given the responsibility to the Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel to come up with suggestions on how to implement the idea.

According to a report in Cricbuzz, the BCCI is unlikely to make an immediate announcement about the increase in match fees. However, the national selection panel has discussed the proposal. By increasing the remuneration, the BCCI wants to make sure that the domestic players, who do not have IPL contracts, do not feel deprived.

BCCI to double the fees of domestic cricketers:

While the BCCI is yet to take a final call on the matter, all the concerned parties believe that the fees for the domestic cricketers has to be doubled at least. There is also a proposal that the domestic players should be earning between INR 75 lakh to INR 1 crore annually if they have played 10 Ranji Trophy games per season.

At present, a player earns INR 60,000 a day if he has played more than 40 Ranji games, INR 50,000 who has  played between 21 and 40 games and INR 40,000 for someone who has featured in 20 games. On the other hand, the reserve players get between INR 30,000, INR 25,000 and INR 20,000 in the respective categories.

As per the existing payment scale, a senior player would be earning up to INR 25 lakh if his side reaches the final while others in the side making between INR 17 lakh and INR 22 lakh. The BCCI is now keen to ensure that the earning of the domestic players is increased substantially from the upcoming season.

BCCI's main aim is to ensure that the players prioritize red-ball cricket. There have been suggestions from several quarters to increase the fees of the players and the board is finally working on it. Last month, BCCI secretary Jay Shah announced an incentive of ₹45 lakh per game for the players who would play 75% or more of the scheduled Test games in a particular season.

Following the announcement, former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar had suggested that the BCCI should increase the fees of the domestic cricketers as well.

"If the Ranji Trophy fees can be doubled or tripled, certainly there'll be a lot more people playing the Ranji Trophy, and a lot less pullouts from the Ranji Trophy, because if the fees of playing a Ranji Trophy match are a good fee, there will be fewer people pulling out for various reasons," Gavaskar had said.