Former Indian captain and current President of Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), Mohammad Azharuddin, has extended his support to the Indian Cricketers' Association (ICA) in a noble cause to help out the needy former cricketers amid the ongoing Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The ICA will provide financial aid to around 25-30 former India cricketers who are not earning and are not getting any pension from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

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It is being reportedly said that Azharuddin has pledged to donate Rs 10 lakh to support the ICA’s initiative with the BCCI-approved association raised Rs 24 lakh so far. From the total amount, Rs 10 lakh is ICA’s contribution.

Apart from the HCA President, former players such as Anshuman Gaekwad and Shanta Rangaswamy have also come forward to help the ICA with financial aid with the donation that can be made till May 16.

ICA president Ashok Malhotra told PTI, “Every player has contributed as per his capability. The most important thing is we made the appeal on Friday evening and by today, we have raised Rs 24 lakh.”

He further added, “This means people are connected to this initiative. And I am sure the amount will increase in the coming days so that we are able to help more players. Till now we are saying that we will try to help 25-30 players but if the amount increases, then we can help more number of players. Players settled abroad have come forward in a big way.”

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Meanwhile, Malhotra was disappointed by the “lack of involvement of the big guns of Indian cricket”. He signed off by saying, “Our top players are still not involved in this initiative. We are expecting that they will also join this initiative and help their fellow players who desperately need help.”

There are around 1750 former cricketers are registered with the ICA, India’s first-ever players’ association which came into established last year.

Noteworthy, the BCCI – who granted Rs 2 crore to ICA in February to kick-start its operations, currently provides pension to only cricketers who have played more than 25 first-class games, but the ICA wants the pension scheme for the cricketers who have played more than 10 games.

(With PTI Inputs)