Board of Control for Cricket in India president Sourav Ganguly on Monday remained hopeful that Bangladesh will agree to play the first-ever day/night Test between the two countries. The Test is scheduled to be held at the Eden Gardens from November 22-26.
The final outcome of Bangladesh Cricket Board’s meeting with its senior players will be intimated to the BCCI president late on Monday or Tuesday. “I spoke to the BCB president [Nazmul Hassan],” Ganguly was quoted as saying by PTI.
“They are agreeable, wanted to speak to the players. I’m sure it will be a day/night match. They will also officially announce it soon. Hopefully, by 10-10:30 pm tonight [on Tuesday], we will get a confirmation.”
BCB’s head of cricket operations and former skipper Akram Khan acknowledged that there are practical issues when it comes to playing with the pink ball.
“It’s a great initiative but we need to take the players into confidence. If you look at the itinerary, we would probably get two days (November 21, 22) for training with the pink ball under lights. That’s too little time for preparation. The players are meeting the president today. Hopefully, by tonight or tomorrow (Tuesday) morning, a decision will be made,” Khan said.
Ganguly wants a final intimation late on Monday so that preparations can get under way. “If we get to know by tonight and then we will go forward with our plans by tomorrow.”
There are plans to invite India’s legendary Olympians like Abhinav Bindra, Mary Kom and PV Sindhu and felicitate them for their contribution to the country’s Olympic movement.
“We want to invite and have plans to felicitate Mary Kom, Sindhu and all (great Olympians). We are just waiting for the BCB’s confirmation at the moment. There are also plans to bring in school children, providing them free passes for the game,” Ganguly said.
Ganguly also wants the Eden’s Day/night Test to be a yearly affair on the lines of the pink Test in Australia. He said: “I want the Eden [day/night] to be an annual affair.”
Contract system for domestic players
In a move that could be a game-changer for domestic cricketers, the BCCI president wants to bring in a secured structured payment system just like the annual central contract for country’s top international cricketers.
“We will bring in a contract system for first-class cricketers. We (office-bearers) will ask the new finance (sub) committee to prepare a contract system. It’s just been four-five days and in between there was a Diwali break. It will take about two weeks to assess everything and move forward. There is a lot of work going on,” the BCCI president said.
Currently, a domestic cricketer annually earns around Rs 25 to 30 lakh depending on the matches played. The match fee for a first-class game is Rs 35,000 per day (excluding the daily allowance) and the domestic cricketers get 13 percent distributed amongst them from the gross revenue earned by BCCI through broadcast rights.