Domestic match fees must be hiked by 50%, states BCCI acting president CK Khanna

On Thursday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) acting president CK Khanna assured that the domestic cricketers across the board (seniors, U-19, U-16) will get a substantial pay hike this season, reported PTI.

The BCCI is mulling that the percentage pay for domestic cricketers be raised from the current 13% – something that was last revised way back in 2007.

“The domestic players’ pay structure needs to be reviewed. In my opinion, a minimum 50% increase is a must. I have had discussions with our treasurer Aniruddh Chaudhary and he is working out the modalities,” said Khanna. “I believe that our team can put up a nice proposal before the general body, which is the forum which can clear policy decisions,” acting president added. Khanna believes that the additional cost of a payhike for cricketers could be done through the money that is expected to be generated through IPL broadcast rights.

Technical committee chairman Sourav Ganguly had raised the issue during the Kolkata meeting recently. Currently, the match fee for a Ranji Trophy player is Rs 10,000 per day. However, a state team regularly earns around Rs 12 lakh per season, as the player gets a percentage of broadcast rights earnings at the end of the season.

Some senior officials feel that the BCCI state units could earmark an amount from their annual grant of Rs 20 crore. However, Khanna did not back the idea.

“I don’t think state units should be burdened with the pay hike of domestic players. There is a school of thought that extra financial outflow can be arranged from the additional income that IPL broadcast rights will generate,” said Khanna.

It is also learnt that proposals are being created for hike in per day fees of international umpires officiating domestic games, scorers, video analysts, among others.

“The umpires, scorers, video analysts all had their fees last revised in 2012. They have been getting the same match fee for the past five seasons. The BCCI is also working on giving them appropriate hikes,” Khanna added.