Protect The Interest Of First-Class Players

The maximum amount that an uncapped player can get should be not more than the amount that an INDIAN DOMESTIC PLAYER earns for playing all days of Ranji, Duleep, Irani Trophy and other domestic limited-overs tournaments.

By the time this appears in print, the player auction for this year’s IPL will be done and dusted. The talk will be about how much some player went for and especially how some unknown player made a killing, when a franchise put huge money to secure his services. While that is a lucky break for the individual concerned — and good luck to him — the question remains not just about whether he is worth that much money and whether he will even justify that amount by the time the season is over, but also as to why the first-class player in India, who doesn’t play the IPL but plays many more days of domestic cricket, should get only a fraction of the amount some of these lucky players manage. Now if these guys were also playing Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy and other domestic tournaments then that would be understandable, but most of these players just play the IPL and that’s it.

THE IPL HAS 14 LEAGUE fixtures and then in the knockouts a team may play another three games, so the maximum days of cricket over a period of nearly two months that a player plays in the IPL is 17. That is about a little more than four first-class games of Ranji Trophy in the league phase.