BCCI Announces Revised Graded Payment Structure, List of Contracted Players

Suresh Raina has made strides in more ways than one. Besides making it to the Test eleven at the expense of Yuvraj Singh, his success at the highest level has resulted in the demotion of Yuvraj Singh from a Grade A contract to a Grade B one.

The BCCI has sprung a few other surprises in their revised structure of payments to Indian cricketers.

The types of graded contracts has been fixed at A, B and C. Grade D has been scrapped.T he number of players contracted to the BCCI has also been reduced from 41 to 24.

The retainers for each contract type have been upwardly revised.

A Grade A player receives a crore (Rs. 100 lacs) up from Rs. 60 lacs; Grades B and C cricketers receive Rs. 50 lacs (up from Rs. 40 lacs) and Rs. 25 lacs respectively.

Similarly match fees have been increased:

Test Match Fee: Rs. 2.5 lacs to Rs. seven lacs.

ODI Fee: Rs. 1.8 lacs to Rs. four lacs.

T20 Fee: Rs. one lac to Rs. two lacs.

The list of contracted players is as follows:

Grade A (Rs1 crore): MS Dhoni, S Tendulkar, G Gambhir, V Sehwag, R Dravid, VVS Laxman, S Raina, H Singh and Z Khan

Grade B (Rs50 lakh): Y Singh, I Sharma, A Nehra, P Kumar, V Kohli, M Vijay, P Ojha.

Grade C (Rs25 lakh): S Sreesanth, A Mishra, R Ashwin, R Sharma, C Pujara, R Jadeja, A Mithun, V Kumar

If a non-contracted player is selected to play for India, he will be given a pro-rata contract in the C Grade.

The revised payment structure seeks to ensure the primacy of Test cricket.

It also puts to rest all speculation about Dravid and Laxman finding themselves in a lower grade since they are not considered as probables for the ODI and T20 sides.

Ashwin, Mithun and Pujara find themselves in Grade C, rewarded for their recent performances while representing India. Kohli, Vijay and Ojha have moved up in the world as well.

For Yuvraj Singh, this serves as a timely reminder that if he does not find his cricketing feet soon, he will be left floundering on the sidelines.

For Yusuf Pathan—one of the notable omissions—it is a rude shock. Though he has struggled of late while representing India, he remains India’s best bet as a pinch-hitter for the 2011 World Cup specially on the batsmen-friendly pitches expected.

Other omissions include Ajinkya Rahane, Manoj Tiwary ,Dhawal Kulkarni. Shikhar Dhawan, Abhishek Nayar, Sudeep Tyagi, RP Singh, Munaf Patel, Dinesh Karthik, S Badrinath and Irfan Pathan.

N Srinivasan , the BCCI secretary, speaking on the new contract system:

“We didn’t want too many people.  After all, to be a contracted player is a big thing, so we felt that one has to really perform to earn it."

“If a player plays Test cricket regularly, he will not only be paid the most but also be respected the most,” BCCI chief administrative officer Prof Ratnakar Shetty said.

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Quote of the day:
One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done. – Marie Curie

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