The wealthiest cricketing board in the world, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has cleared all the dues of its centrally contracted players at the end of the financial year which concluded in March.
In a time when top cricketing boards in the world have been open about the deduction of wages, the BCCI has adequately taken care of its India and India ‘A’ team representatives.
Earlier, there were few rumours about pay cuts of Indian internationals as well as the domestic cricketers in the absence of any sporting activity.
“Despite lockdown being announced from March 24, the BCCI was ready for any kind of eventuality. The board clears quarterly instalments of central contract payments to its players,” a BCCI official quoted, according to PTI.
“Plus the match fees of all those who played for India and India A during this period. All these dues were cleared at the end of the financial year,” added the anonymous official.
Apart from the revenue losses, the board is also looking at significant financial losses with the possible cancellation of IPL, coupled with the worldwide economic turmoil due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Players from England such as Joe Root have volunteered to sign up for the furlough scheme, where the British government pays 80 per cent of wages. Meanwhile, Cricket Australia (CA) has delayed their announcement for a central contract.
“One cricket board has put its players on furlough (government assistance scheme). There are talks about pay cuts everywhere. But I believe BCCI is capable of taking good care of its players as it has been all these years,” admitted the official, “Neither our international nor our domestic cricketers will suffer.”
However, the official remained uncertain about the possible window for IPL 2020 later in the year.
“The situation is fluid right now. It can’t be said that it will be September when Asia Cup and home series against England is scheduled or October when World T20 is supposed to take place,” concluded the official.
