Nagpur, May 28
Against the backdrop of compensation issue to Ranji players all eyes will be on BCCI when it will hold a Special General Meeting (SGM) virtually on Saturday.
Around 700 senior domestic cricketers (men) including that of two-time Ranji champions Vidarbha have suffered after the cancellation of the Ranji Trophy last season due to the pandemic. However, when the BCCI official will meet on Saturday to fix the criteria to give compensation to the players will be a big problem before them. The board is in a fix over this issue.
While BCCI had agreed to a compensation package in January last year but the formula to distribute the package is yet to be worked out.
Vidarbha has been Ranji Trophy champion twice. Some players including Akshay Wakhare, pacer rRajnish Gurbani, Aditya sarwate, Lalit Yadav and Akshay Wadkar have jobs in their hands AG office . Therefore more than them other players including skipper Faiz Fazal, Apoorva Wankhede, Jitesh Sharma, youngsters Siddheshh Wath, Mohit Kale annd Atharva Taide are still jobless and need compensation.
As far as four-day Ranji Trophy match is concerned a player playing in eleven get Rs 1.40 lakh as match fees and the extra players get Rs 70,000. However, the players were deprived of it since the Ranji Trophy didn't take place due to lockdown and Covid restrictions. In one-day the match fee is Rs 70,000 and in T-29 players get rs 35,000. The players got their dues of Vijay Hazare One-day Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali T-20 Trophy as the tournament were conducted.
Vidarbha skipper Faiz Fazal has already urged the BCCI to make the issue of payment to first-class cricketers their main priority now. According to his every first-class cricketer who doesn’t play the IPL is finding it frustrating. Payment for the cancelled Ranji season should be a priority of the BCCI
Talking to Lokmat Times one of the senior players on the condition of anonymity said,, “ We are keeping close eye on BCCI special AGM because the issue of compensation to Rannji players is likely to be discussed. Those players have jobs in their hand have no issue but what about such players who have no jobs,” he questioned.
He further said the most feasible solution would be to hand over a lump sum compensation package to the state units and they would accordingly, distribute among their players as per their roster from previous season.
Another player sai, “ In India only 73 uncapped domestic cricketers currently have IPL contracts. Playing Vijay Hazare and Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy can't make up for the financial losses that these players suffered”. Talking to Lokmat Times over this issue Vidarbha Cricket Association CEO Farukh Dastur said, “ Ranji players deserve compensation but it will be very difficult for the BCCI to workout the criteria. On which basis they will compensate the players?. Let's wait and watch”, he said.
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Players yet to get dues from BCCI profit for last 2 seasons
It has also come to the light that the BCCI has not shared its profit with the Ranji players for last two seasons. Four years back BCCI started to share its profit with Ranji Trophy players also along with international players. One Vidarbha player said, “ The BCCI has not shared its profit with Ranji players for last two seasons. Let's hope that this issue will be discussed in the meeting”.
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