Twisted Tales, About-turns In Central Contracts

On the cards was increased hikes and it came as no surprise that the hike for the top bracketed players went up by a two crore rupee pay cheque.

- Sreelata S. Yellamrazu

With the Committee of Administrators (CoA) recently releasing the annual BCCI central contracts for players, there were plenty of talking points. Although there was a sharp rise in more than one cricketer’s annual pay hike, in the same breath, there was more than one puzzling question that called for explanation, if not revision. 

On the cards was increased hikes and it came as no surprise that the hike for the top bracketed players went up by a two crore rupee pay cheque. However, while the grade packets increased from three to four to now include A+ players in addition to the norm of Grade A, Grade B, and Grade C players, the number of players tied to a central contract went down significantly. While it seemed like a rewards incentive commanded who went into the top most A+ bracket, it simultaneously raised quite a few disconcerting questions.