KOLKATA: For the first-time Indian Cricketers’ Association (ICA) has been recognised by the BCCI, and its recently elected President and former India cricketer Ashok Malhotra calls it a welcome move.
But the 62-year-old former Bengal captain has stressed on the need to hike the salaries of women cricketer.
“We would like to increase the salary of our women cricketers. They’re doing well in international matches. Some of them even are household names. They should be at least at par with top players,” Malhotra told khelupdates at his residence here on Friday.
As per the current BCCI pay structure, there are three grades in women’s segment — A, B and C with the A bracket getting Rs 50 lakh, B Rs 30 lakh and Rs10 lakh (C).
In the men’s category, those who are A+ category get Rs 7 crore, Rs 5 crore (A), Rs3 crore (B) and Rs 1 crore (C).
ICA won’t poke its nose in cricketing affairs
The gutsy former middle-order batsman, who moved to Bengal in early 1990s, however, made it clear that ICA will poke its nose into the cricketing issues.
“There’s a problem in domestic cricket. But our idea is not to get into the issues of cricket. We’re more concerned about the players’ welfare. Once we’re on a firm footing, then we can talk on the future aspects of the game,” added Malhotra, who also coached Bengal.
Gavaskar, Tendulkar yet to join ICA
Surprisingly, legends like Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar were among others who didn’t apply for ICA membership.
ICA is India’s first ever players’ association formed as per recommendation of the Supreme Court-appointed Justice RM Lodha panel.
Yajurvindra Singh, Rajesh Nayyar (Walia) are member representatives while former India opener Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy are the male and female representatives to the BCCI Apex Council.
Low salaries of 1st class cricketers
On his immediate goals as ICA head, Malhotra said, “We might try to increase the salaries of 1st class cricketers at par with Ranji Trophy players. In the end, the ICA might become the middleman between the BCCI and cricketers where we might be able to talk about the contracts and remunerations.”
The body will be receiving a partial grant from the BCCI, but ICA will have to raise money on its own, and the topic will be up for discussion at their next meeting on November 1.
Malhotra is aware of the challenges, but he is prepared to put forward some of his ideas include changing the matches slab for pension eligibility.
“Besides increasing the pensions, we also want to reduce the number from 25 1st class matches to a new slab of 10-24 as only players who have played 25 matches are eligible for pensions,” he added.
