BCCI To Award T20I Specialists Annual Contracts; Minimum Qualification Set At 10 Games

Earlier, the BCCI used to award its annual contracts to only those cricketers who featured in Tests and One-day Internationals but, according to a report in the Indian Express, the board has now decided to change its policy of annual contracts.

It is worth noting that during the tenure of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators, the BCCI had declined to give any weightage to players who played a handful of T20 games. Before that, the BCCI followed the policy of handing over annual contracts to any player who turned up for the country in a season.

This policy was subsequently amended by the COA, who decided to hand over contracts to cricketers who have played a minimum of three Tests or seven ODIs. An exception was made last year when Washington Sundar was handed the annual contract as a reward for his exploits in the shortest format of the game.

“The board has decided to change the old clause and add a new one where a player who’s played a minimum ten T20 games in a year can be given a central contract. In the new contract signed by players, this clause was included. If there’s any specialist T20 player, he should not be deprived of a central contract because his speciality is the shortest format,” a source was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

For the uninitiated, the BCCI hands over annual contracts under four categories: A+ gets Rs 7 crores, A gets Rs 5 crores, B gets Rs 3 crores followed by C who gets Rs 1 crore.

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