Virat Kohli Told CoA that MS Dhoni is Still is Irreplecable
Updated - 18 Mar 2018, 08:40 PM
The Board of Control for Cricket in India has currently introduced the A+ category and only the players currently playing all three formats of the game. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was placed in A category. There was a belief circling that Dhoni was relegated to grade A in the list of the central contract. Committee of Administrators chief Vinod Rai said that it was the former skipper who wanted an A+ category for the top performers in the team.
Twenty-six cricketers have been handed central contracts, and only Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah has been given an A+ category.
“This A+ category was proposed by the players themselves. We had a discussion about this category with Dhoni and Virat. They proposed that there should be a category of world-class excellence in which players who play all three formats of the game should be there,” said Rai.
The head of the Committee of Administrators said that both Kohli and Dhoni wanted the A+ category to indicate the top performers in the national team.
“This should be a functional category where players move in and out. Also, it will show that the best in the business are rewarded as per performance.”
The former CAF was pleased to see the camaraderie between Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni.
“Their camaraderie is exceptional with so much mutual respect. Virat respects Dhoni’s cricketing acumen and Dhoni respects what Virat is achieving as a player,” said Rai. CoA conceded that Kohli has told him that he thinks Dhoni is irreplaceable in the limited overs set-up for now.
“Virat feels that there are no faster pair of gloves than MS Dhoni today. Also Dhoni’s cricketing mind honed over so many years is an asset for Virat. As far as how many years of cricket is left in him, time and his performance will tell,” he said.
The Central Contract provides a decent earning for the domestic players
Rai said that the best part of the central contracts is that it ensures a decent earning for even the domestic players.
“These increases have been proposed in consultation with the players. Domestic players, who were getting Rs 10-12 lakh per annum, will now get Rs 20-22 lakh per annum in addition to the earnings from Gross Revenue System (profits from TV broadcast). Now with this kind of salary, domestic players can concentrate on their game without looking for jobs,” Rai said.
“We discussed with players and we placed the proposal to the office-bearers. The package was there with them from September (2017) and there’s nothing new in it. Finance committee did not meet is a fact but the package was known to them,” said Rai.
“They did not even have any comments to make. Finally, when we again met the players (during Sri Lanka series), we showed them and they did it was reasonable. So we decided to put it out as players have contracts and their insurances are in place before IPL,” he said.
He further added that everyone enjoys being a cricket administrator but very few know the practical problems which the players face.
“Nobody knows the plight of the cricketers than the cricketers themselves. They are interacting with cricketers every day. In fact, it was the cricketers who gave us names of former players who are facing difficulty in getting two meals together.”
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