India domestic cricketers are in for a pay hike with the BCCI reportedly asking its chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar to draw up a plan. This comes after the board had last month announced ‘Test Cricket Incentive Scheme’, designed for the senior men’s team to reward participation in Test cricket.
As per a report in Cricbuzz, the board is of the opinion that domestic cricketers should earn at least double of what they are paid currently with payscale ranging from Rs 75 lakh to Rs 1 crore per annum depending on the number of Ranji Trophy matches during a season.
The report further adds that as per the current pay structure, a cricketer who has played over 40 Ranji Trophy matches is paid Rs 60,000 per day while those who have clocked between 20 to 40 Ranji matches, get Rs 50,000 per day.
On the other hand, those who have experience of 20 Ranji matches, earn Rs 40,000 per day.
If implemented, the decision will be the latest in a series of steps announced by the BCCI to promote red-ball cricket in the country.
In March, BCCI secretary Jay Shah had revealed the Test Cricket Incentive Scheme to “encourage players to engage in the purest format of the sport but also addresses the evolving dynamics of the cricketing landscape, ensuring parity with match fees in other formats and league cricket.”
The scheme commenced from the 2022-23 season and is as an additional reward structure on top of the existing match fee for Test matches, set at Rs 15 lakhs.
Earlier this year, the BCCI had asked players to not skip domestic matches for their respective teams when not representing India at the international level.
“The BCCI has recommended that all athletes give precedence to participating in domestic cricket during periods when they are not representing the national team,” read a statement from the board.
