After incentive for Tests, BCCI working out fee hike for Ranji players
Weeks after it decided to increase the payments to Test cricketers, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is working out a similar remuneration plan for the Ranji Trophy, the country’s premier domestic red-ball tournament, it is learnt.
This comes as the BCCI scrambles to cap the trend of players picking the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) over domestic cricket.
“After the Test Cricket Incentive Scheme, the BCCI is working out how we can reward players who play red-ball Ranji
Trophy cricket. The BCCI is planning to increase the match fees to give more importance to red ball cricket,” a BCCI official told The Indian news.
Under the Test Cricket Incentive Scheme, announced by the BCCI earlier in March, players will now get up to Rs 45 lakh incentive per Test match in addition to the Rs 15-lakh match fee.
Mumbai players celebrate with the championship trophy after winning the Ranji Trophy final test cricket match between Mumbai and Vidarbha, at the Wankhede Stadium, in Mumbai. (PTI)
For Ranji, the BCCI currently pays between Rs 40,000 and Rs 60,000 per day as match fee, depending on the number of games a cricketer has played across seasons. For instance, a player who plays all seven group games in a season earns approximately Rs 11.2 lakh annually.
This is below the base price for an IPL player — Rs 20 lakh for two months of T20 cricket.
Of late, several players with IPL contracts were known to have skipped Ranji Trophy games, presumably to avoid injury or staying in shape for the cash-rich T20 league.
As reported by The Indian news earlier, of the 165 Indian cricketers who signed up for IPL 2024, 56 did not appear for a single game in the Ranji season despite being on their state units’ radar, while 25 appeared in only one.
During a recent Idea Exchange with this newspaper, cricketer R Ashwin spoke about BCCI’s stand that India’s top cricketers must play Ranji Trophy when not representing the country in matches with other countries.
“Sometimes when an organisation takes a stand, it might not suit everyone, it might not work in favour of everyone, it might be detrimental to a few people. What we must understand here is the message being conveyed by the organisational body… that we are prioritising Test cricket, IPL is not everything as far as we are concerned. They are saying Test cricket is paramount…we are going to promote it and we expect people eligible top lay this format. In my view, they are making the right noises,” he said.
However, he said, “At the same time, whether a cricketer wants to do all the 12 months, or only wants to do the two months or whether they want to be relevant playing T20 cricket and one-day cricket and do not want to be playing Test cricket, is their choice.”
In February, while announcing the centrally contracted players, BCCI dropped India-capped players like Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan for not playing the Ranji.
