BCCI – Is the Board turning a blind eye to its own while showing largesse to Olympic heroes

India and her athletes came back from Tokyo with their best ever showing in the once in four years show piece event. The final day of India’s participation saw history being created. Neeraj Chopra won India’s first ever gold in athletics. The 23 year old scripted history when he won the Javelin event with a throw of 78.35 meters in his very first attempt. The whole country when into joyous celebrations. The feat of the 23 year along with the boxers, wrestlers and PV Sindhu who won bronze in badminton were feted. The BCCI too joined in the parade to honor and cheer the victorious athletes.

The story as it happened –

The Indian athletes returned home to hero’s welcome after their impressive showing in Tokyo Olympics. The Board of Control for Cricket in India announced cash prizes for all the athletes who had won a medal in Tokyo. Neeraj Chopra is to be given INR 1 crore, while Indian men’s hockey team will be paid INR 1.25 crore. Weight lifter Mirabai Chanu who won silver as did wrestler Ravi Dahiya will be paid INR 50 Lakh. Wrestler Bajrang Punia, Boxer Lovleena and Shuttler PV Sindhu will be paid INR 25 lakh each. While many are praising this move from the BCCI, there is a discontent that the board may be ignoring their own house in this process.

Domestic cricket in need of uplift –

The year 2020 saw the world being ravaged by the Coronavirus pandemic, the deadly virus is still not showing signs of slowing down. This has affected a lot of businesses and personal lives. Cricket too has been affected and for the first time in 8 decades, there was no Ranji Trophy being played. The BCCI held the Vijay Hazare and Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy just before the IPL 2021. There are some reports that many domestic players are still to be paid. The payment issue aside the state of affairs in Indian domestic structure is very dire.

Payment issues plaguing Domestic Cricketers?

many domestic players who play the Ranji trophy and the other tournaments held by the BCCI were promised to be paid. Most of these players just have the age old tournament to fall back on. With no international cricket future or IPL contracts lining up, the years post the pandemic have been a dreadful one. The BCCI’s promise of payments hasn’t seen the light of the day. A domestic player earns a measly amount if he is playing all three formats of the domestic season. The Ranji Trophy, The 50 over Vijay Hazare Trophy and the 20 over Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy. Then there is the Duleep and Irani trophy.

• INR 1.4 Lakh earned per game by a player playing in Ranji Trophy
• INR 35,000 for participation in Vijay Hazare trophy (50 overs)
• INR 17,500 for participation in Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy(20 overs)

 The need of the hour –

First and foremost BCCI needs to release the funds for the cricketers whose sole source of income was the domestic cricket. The next call of action should be to increase the match fees of these cricketers. The BCCI earns a lot of revenue from international cricket and also the IPL. They also have a plethora of backers who back the BCCI with money via the commercial and sponsorship deals. The BCCI needs to take care of its own before showing its Largesse to others. Hopefully Sourav Ganguly who has been a breathe of fresh air so far along with Jay Shah can take note of this and bring the desired changes and make domestic cricket a better place monetarily.