BCCI may be the richest cricket board in the world, but as per Indian Express, it has not paid its contracted players their dues for the last 10 months.
The BCCI’s 27 elite contracted players are yet to receive the first of the quarterly installments due since October last year. The board has also not distributed match fees for the two Tests, nine ODIs and eight T20 games that the national team has played since December 2019.
The total retainer amount due for contracted cricketers annually is Rs 99 crore, with the payment divided on grading.
While Grade A+ cricketers Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Jasprit Bumrah get Rs 7 crore annually, the other regulars in grades A, B, and C get Rs 5 crore, Rs 3 crore, and Rs 1 crore, respectively. The match fees for each Test, ODI and T20 are Rs 15 lakh, Rs 6 lakh, and Rs 3 lakh, respectively.
BCCI recently made its balance sheet public and according to that, it had cash and bank balance of Rs 5,526 crore, as of March 2018, including Rs 2,992 crore in fixed deposits. In April 2018, the BCCI signed a five-year broadcasting deal with Star TV worth Rs 6,138.1 crore.
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And yet, eight of the contracted cricketers confirmed to BCCI hasn’t paid cricket stars their dues in 10 months. BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal did not respond to texts and calls seeking comment. However, board sources blamed the delay partly on uncertainty at the helm.
“These crucial administrative positions haven’t been filled after the contract of the previous functionaries weren’t extended by the present dispensation,” said sources. BCCI has not had a Chief Financial officer since December, and a Chief Executive Officer and General Manager (Cricket Operations) since last month.
Also, as per the board constitution, President Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah’s tenures have also ended. The board has approached the Supreme Court for annulling the “cooling off” clause in the Constitution so that both can retain their positions.
Speaking to The Indian Express, a senior India cricketer said the board usually asks the players to raise invoices for contract dues every three months.
“But this time, we haven’t heard from them since the new list of contracted cricketers was announced. The BCCI used to pay the contract money in four installments but now we don’t know when the payment will come. There is no clarity. Last month, we were asked to raise the invoice for the New Zealand tour in February. The money hasn’t been credited yet,” said the cricketer, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The contracts start from October, although the list of players this time was announced only in January.
The payments for the FC and age-group cricketers have also been delayed. Several domestic players from Jharkhand, Mumbai, Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir, Pondicherry, Baroda, Railways, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh told this news outlet that the “full settlement” for the last season hasn’t been done.
According to the BCCI website, all the state units have been credited Rs 10 crore each as part payment of the annual subsidy for cricket activities.
