BCCI clears players' longstanding match fees for Covid-affected 2020-21 domestic season

The clearing of payments coincides with the start of the new Ranji Trophy season from January 13 to March 17 across seven venues

In a move best described by a domestic player as a “Christmas gift”, the BCCI has disbursed match fees it owes hundreds of domestic cricketers – male and female – in the country for tournaments that had to be shelved due to Covid-19 in the 2020-21 season. ESPNcricinfo understands that players from those associations who have duly sent the filled invoices have been compensated 50% of their regular earnings.

A player who featured in eight games in the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy, for example, received INR 11.20 lakh (USD$ 15,000 approx.), with the match fee per day for the four-day tournament being INR 35,000 (USD$ 470 approx.). For 2020-21, the player would’ve received INR 5.10 lakh (USD$ 6,800 approx.) as compensation payout, the basis for calculation being each player receives INR 35,000 per match day. Players who didn’t make the XI for certain games were compensated on a pro-rata basis, taking into consideration the 2020-21 season. If a player was part of XI for four games and on bench for four games, he got 50% of fees for games he played and the corresponding 50% of fees that players outside the starting XI got.

The clearing of payments coincides with the start of the new Ranji Trophy season from January 13 to March 17 across seven venues, even as confusion reigns among certain players over further tweaks to the scheduling owing to the rise in Covid cases across the country, accelerated by the Omicron variant.

Earlier in the week, the BCCI was forced to cancel the Under-16 tournament for the Vijay Merchant Trophy because “participants are still not vaccinated and as such, are vulnerable,” as per BCCI secretary Jay Shah. As such, those below 18 years of age are still not eligible to take the vaccine in the country. Eligible recipients in the age group of 15-18 years will be administered Covid-19 vaccines from January 3.

About payments, the board had earlier this year announced a significant increase in match fees for domestic players. The new pay slabs, which will be in place 2021-22 onwards, will have the senior men earning between INR 40,000 and 60,000 (USD$ 540 to 810 approx) per day while senior women will earn up to INR 20,000 (USD$ 270 approx.) per day.

That hike is a small one for the players in the first category (under 20 matches), but an almost 100% hike for more experienced hands (40-plus games), while those who have played between 21 and 40 matches will earn INR 50,000 (USD$ 680 approx.). Earlier, senior men’s cricketers earned INR 35,000 (USD$ 470 approx.) per day for first-class and one-day games regardless of how many caps they had, and INR 17,500 (USD 240 approx.) per game for T20s.

For the senior women players, who earlier earned INR 12,500 (USD$ 170 approx.) per one-day match and INR 6,250 (USD 85 approx.) per T20 match, the pay has been raised to INR 20,000 for playing XI members and INR 10,000 (USD 135 approx.) for those on the bench in both limited-overs formats. For the record, there isn’t currently a first-class competition for women in India, the last multi-day women’s tournament in the country – the 2017-2018 Senior Women’s Inter-Zonal Three-Day Game – having been held in March-April 2018.

Players across the country are hoping to address this issue at the conclusion of the current season, when the BCCI organises their annual Captains and Coaches conclave.