Former national captain Sunil Gavaskar has hit out at the Indian Cricketers’ Association president Ashok Malhotra for his reported comment on the players having to possibly take a pay cut due to the coronavirus outbreak.
“Like with any sport, if you don’t play you don’t get paid and that’s what will happen.” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-Day.
“What was amusing though was to read that the president of the Indian Cricketers’ Association has said there should be pay cuts for the India internationals and the first-class players too. One can understand him trying to curry favour with the BCCI but with whose authority is he talking about the cuts is the question.
“The current India internationals and the first-class players are not members of the players’ body so he can’t be speaking on their behalf. It’s easy to talk about pay cuts if it doesn’t hurt your own pocket,” he added.
Earlier, the BCCI had announced a donation of Rs 51 crores to the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund to aid in the fight against coronavirus.
“This was an unexpected scenario. These are very tough times. So, everyone will have to try and contribute from their pocket.
“I know it’s not fair to reduce the salaries of the players, but if the parent body is not earning as much as it was doing before, the cricketers will definitely have to expect a pay cut,” Malhotra was quoted as saying by Times of India.
BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal had said that there were no discussions about the players’ pay cut despite big financial setback due to the pandemic.
“No, we have not spoken about this (pay cut). Whatever the steps after this setback, it will be taken judiciously and keeping the interest of all people in mind. Any step taken needs to be thought out and right now we haven’t even thought about it. Obviously this is a big setback, but we will go about this in a way that nobody gets affected. These things can be discussed once things settle down,” Dhumal is quoted as saying by IANS.