Cash rewards for Indian players to be doubled after seven consecutive series wins

What’s the story?

As a reward for winning seven consecutive series, starting from Sri Lanka in 2015 to Australia in 2017, and four consecutive series wins at home, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has decided to double the initial cash prize for the Indian team players. In a special general body meeting held in New Delhi, the decision was unanimously approved.

In case you didn’t know...

Soon after India got the better of Australia in the 4-Test Border-Gavaskar series, the Indian cricket board had announced a cash reward of Rs. 50 lakhs for each player of the Test team.

The heart of the matter

Some of the Indian veterans completely wrote-off Australia from the series during its build-up, citing that India were too good for any visiting team in the Indian subcontinent, especially after humiliating New Zealand, England, and Bangladesh back to back.

However, what transpired during the series was a riveting encounter, where Australia left no stone unturned to prove the Indian critics wrong. They won the Pune Test by 333 runs and managed to draw the third Test at Ranchi after being on the losing end for most parts of the game.

India managed to win the hard-fought series amidst off-field imbroglios that were aimed at distracting the attention of the players from the game.

Perhaps this is why the BCCI thought the players deserved cash-rewards of more than Rs. 50 lakh. On Tuesday, the members of the board approved the BCCI treasurer Anirudh Chaudhary’s proposal to increase the cash award amount to Rs. 1 crore each.

However, the pay of support staff was not increased. Anil Kumble will get Rs 25 lakh and Sanjay Bangar and R Sridhar will be getting Rs 15 lakh each.

What’s next?

For now, the Indian selectors will be busy eyeing the potential IPL talents for the Champions Trophy which will be played in England from June 1 to 18. The much awaited India vs Pakistan encounter is to be played on June 4.

Author’s Take

The only downside to BCCI’s generous decision to double cash rewards for the players is that the supporting staff, which plays as important a role in the team as the players do, will not be entitled to a hiked reward. The team is only as good as its supporting staff and thus they too deserve equal appreciation.