In a major overhaul of their grading contracts, BCCI will soon introduce a new India players contract system.
"It's important to have the new contracts in place without which the IPL player insurance policy cannot be executed," a BCCI source told India Today. It was also confirmed that former India captain MS Dhoni was a part of discussions representing the Indian team with BCCI and has agreed to the new four tier player contract system.
In the new COA formulated contract system, a player who does not play all forms of the game will miss out on the topmost A+ grade contract, which affects the likes of MS Dhoni, Cheteshwar Pujara, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and others.
Skipper Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and coach Ravi Shastri were part of the discussion and all the parties agreed to the terms of new contracts.
2007 World T20, 2011 ICC World Cup, 2013 ICC Champions Trophy winning captain MS Dhoni was placed in the top grade retainer despite retiring from Test cricket in 2014.
India Today has learnt that as per the proposed contract system, players will be graded in four tiers - A+, A, B and C - with the players who perform well in all formats becoming the biggest beneficiaries.
Players, who are not in A+ grade, could benefit from their form and could end up in higher grade despite not part of all the three formats, based on their superior ICC rankings. The Indian team is divided in three grades A, B and C with the players getting retainers of Rs 2 crore, Rs 1 crore and Rs 50 lakh respectively at the moment.
The players are set to receive a significant hike in the new contract system.
Another change that might be significant is that a player wouldn't automatically come under a central contract even if he makes his T20 international debut. A player may get a Grade C contract if he makes his ODI or Test debut. Earlier, any player making debut in any international format earned the C Grade contract automatically.
The task of slotting players in the four grades based upon the set guidelines before the players are awarded with the new contracts is handed to BCCI chief selector MSK Prasad.
In other news, Jyotiraditya Scindia-led finance committee and treasurer Anirudh Chaudhary are unhappy with CoA, accusing them of exceeding their ambit over player contracts.
A CoA source insists the new contracts were sent to all concerned on three occasions but the finance committee failed to meet, deliberate and revert.
