With the Board of Control for Cricket in India and the Justice Lodha committee locking horns in the Supreme Court over the board’s finances, the Rajasthan U-19 women’s team landed in Indore for a tournament without a single penny to spend for their personal expenses, according to a Times of India report. The Supreme Court-appointed committee had told the BCCI to not release money to its state boards unless told to do so.
The Rajasthan side were asked to shell out money from their own pockets for more than a month, the report said. On Thursday, the side was told that they would not even be paid their monthly allowance of Rs 500 per day for every player because of the “lack of funds” in the BCCI’s coffers as a result of the court order. “The girls could not even borrow money from their parents because they were all at the camp,” the Times of India quoted a source as saying. “They had been looking forward to this tournament, so they wanted to be there at all costs.”
The report also went on to add that the girls, most of whom are between 14 and 16 years of age, do not even have a savings account. Team manager Komal Chaudhary stated that the team is struggling even with rudimentary amenities. “There’s no money for even basic needs like eating, emergency medicines and first-aid or local travel,” she said.
The travel to Indore, to the hotel and back, though, has been taken care of by the BCCI, said the report. A member of the Lodha committee offered to help after hearing of the girls’ plight. “Can you tell me what their daily allowance is? Please ask one of the members of the travelling contingent to share a bank account number with me. I will transfer funds from my personal account. At no point should the kids suffer because of what is going on,” a panel official told the daily.
