PCA Announce Contracts For The 2020-21 Domestic Season

Despite the unclear state of the Indian domestic season, the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) has rolled out annual contracts for 30 players for the 2020-21 season. The association has termed it as a scholarship scheme, where both women and men would be handed out contracts for the forthcoming season. The BCCI earlier announced that they are looking to hold a truncated domestic season.

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The association announced that the players would be divided into A, B, and C categories. Category A and B would comprise of players, who would receive INR 8 and 6 lakhs respectively per annum. Category C would consist of athletes, who would be awarded a monthly remuneration of INR 10000 each. The likes of Shubman Gill, Anmolpreet Singh, Mandeep Singh, Gurkeerat Singh, Siddharth Kaul would make up the amongst the men’s cricketers in A category.

On the other hand, Indian women’s captain Harmanpreet Kaur and keeper-batter Tanya Bhatia will also make it to that segregation. The contracts will also include, who have represented India or India A in the previous season.

Puneet Bali, the PCA secretary, stated that they have appointed a sub-committee, comprising of PCA President, vice-president, secretary, joint-secretary and Punjab’s senior men’s captain to finalise the players’ list. Puneet headlined that the players received the nods based on merit and that they do not want them to feel handicapped due to financial restraints and focus solely on their game.

“We appointed a sub-committee which included the PCA president, vice-president, secretary, joint secretary and Punjab senior men’s team captain to finalise the players’ list. Also, we formulated rules and set parameters according to which this contract system will run in future. The players were rated keeping in mind their seniority and performances. We don’t want our players to feel handicapped due to financial restraints and just focus on the game,” Bali said as quoted by Hindsutan Times.

“It is a great step by PCA” : Yuvraj Singh

Former Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh also hailed the step taken by the PCA. Yuvraj Singh mentioned that it is the best way to make the players feel secured, encouraging them to concentrate on refining their skills. It is a wise move for athletes, who are dependent only on match fees and that an annual contract system provides them with all the financial assistance.

“It is a great step by PCA. This would provide the state players security and also encourage them. This overhauling would help cricketers grow and concentrate on their game. Also, one takes a lot of pride in representing a state which is looking after you like that. The players are thrilled by this move. Some players don’t have jobs and are dependent on match fees only. So this annual contract system would cover their financial needs to an extent,” the 38-year old asserted.

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