The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is mulling increasing the annual retainer for cricketers with special focus on players prioritising playing in Test matches, as per a report by the Times of India (TOI).
The BCCI categorised players in four grades, namely: A+, A, B, and C, in the announcement made on Wednesday, but it didn not mention the amount that individuals will be securing as a part of their respective contracts.
Reportedly, the BCCI is in talks with skipper Rohit Sharma, head coach Rahul Dravid, and chief selector Ajit Agarkar, to reignite interest in the longest format of the game amongst players.
The board has gotten a proposal to increase the match fees and remenuration for red-ball cricket at both the international as well as the domestic level. This will be done in order to ensure that the sum equals the remenuration of lower mid-level IPL contracts.
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"The board has asked for recommendations from the Indian team management. They are taking a very aggressive approach towards maintaining the sanctity of the longest format of the game. It is imperative that players, who are committed to first-class cricket, are rewarded at a similar level as IPL cricket. That would mean that existing remuneration has to be multiplied," a BCCI source told TOI.
"The recommendations are on the lines of increasing the Test match and first-class fees by three times. The idea is that if a player plays the entire Ranji Trophy, he should be able to make around ₹75 lakhs which matches an average IPL contract. It has also been suggested that if a player plays all Test matches in a year, he should be able to make ₹15 crores which is at par for any marquee IPL contract," the source further mentioned.
Currently, a player can make ₹25 lakh if he plays all 10 matches in a Ranji Trophy season.
Whilst increasing it substantially by three times to ₹75 lakhs might not be possible in one go, the BCCI is considering working on these options to ensure that they reach a reasonable mid-point, which is why it has refrained from explicitly mentioning the value of the contract for the retained players already.
Team India regulars Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were dropped from the list after failing to turn up for their respective teams in the current Ranji Trophy campaign.
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