Although this was part of Sourav Ganguly’s action plan when he took over as BCCI president, there has been no progress.

In fact, the Pakistan, England and Australian cricket boards have central contracts for their domestic cricketers, but not India which boasts of having the richest cricket board in the world.

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‘Financial security needed’  

Prof Ratnakar Shetty, former Chief Administrative Officer of the BCCI, is keen that the Indian cricket board prioritises securing domestic cricketers. “It’s time the BCCI focussed on the Ranji Trophy cricketers and prepared a scheme for annual retainerships which the state units should implement. The general public feels that all cricketers make a lot of money because of IPL, which is not true. Hardly, 25 Indian cricketers must be earning over a crore of rupees and another 50 may be earning between Rs 50 and one crore. Most of the domestic players must be earning between Rs 20 and 50 lakhs. Giving retainership to the domestic cricketers will give them some financial security. Today, the players get match fees only if they play or are in the reserves. There are many cases every season of players losing out due to injury,” Prof Shetty told mid-day.

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“When we [the BCCI] introduced the annual retainership for international cricketers, we had a classic example of Anil Kumble who had no income for a whole season as he was injured in the India-West Indies series. Annual retainership gives much needed protection in such cases,” he added.

The plan

Prof Shetty felt the BCCI should draw up a plan for central contracts system and guide the state associations. “The BCCI can adopt a two-tier annual retainer for Ranji cricketers based on the number of matches they have played over the years. This year the BCCI enhanced match fees based on number of matches the player has played. All the state units should be asked to implement the scheme, but the number of players offered retainerships would be different. 

“Ideally, annual retainership can start with Rs 15 lakh and Rs 7.5 lakh, which will surely benefit a number of domestic cricketers who are not fortunate to be picked for IPL teams. I am sure the BCCI will take care of the current Ranji cricketers too,” he said.