Domestic cricketers too rake in the moolah

By Indranil Basu
 
Australian pace king Mitchell Starc bagging Rs 24.75 crore while his ODI and Test captain and new-ball bowling partner Pat Cummins getting Rs 20.5 crore from the last IPL auction isn’t making heads turn anymore. Cricket audiences all over the world aren’t awestruck with the salaries of top cricketers, who have been earning big monies from the cash-rich T20 league, anymore.
 
 
Because they know that top Indian players are actually making a killing with Rs 100-crore multidimensional commercial deals in IPL. In addition to that, there are the BCCI contracts offered to the Test cricketers – who would make more than Rs 45 lakhs from  every Test if they manage to sustain over 7 matches in a financial year. So, a top player of Virat Kohli’s stature isn’t making anything less than Rs 200 crore if not more each year to take his net worth over Rs 1000 crore. 
 
The joke is that if you are the captain of the Indian team for one World Cup, you stand to gain at least Rs 100 crore.
 
In reality, cricket is such a big deal right now that even those who have retired and long forgotten through a series of legends league happening all-over the globe, are striking million- dollar deals. Even a retired legend like Chris Gayle isn’t making anything less than a million dollars for his guest participation.
 
Those at the domestic level cricket, who were making around Rs 20 to 30 lakhs per year after playing all the formats of the game for their respective states, are all set to get a bonanza from the BCCI. They could land up earning over Rs 1 crore very soon. There are a few of the chosen ones from domestic cricket who get to sign IPL contracts. For them, it is more the merrier.
 
Of course, former BCCI chief and captain Sourav Ganguly did try to raise the concerns of the Indian domestic cricket and even tried to hike their fees right after taking over as the chief of BCCI. But it took time for the entire management to finalize all the policy and to formulate the cause of Indian domestic cricket.
 
Seeing the way the Indian domestic cricket functioned, there were less incentives and more hard work for the cricketers whereas the IPL money was easy-peasy.
 
But with so much degradation of the domestic cricket and voices of concerns, BCCI is opening up an equally profitable proposition to ensure that even a state level player who hasn't got an IPL contract is not missing much.
 
So much so that domestic cricketers playing all the Ranji Trophy games could end up making over Rs 75 lakh and playing all other white-ball events (Vijay Hazare Trophy and Mushtaq Ali Trophy) could easily make him earn at least more than a Rs 1 crore per year.
 
In a way, cricket is gradually becoming so profitable that the parents are no longer worried if their kids are going to make it to the highest level. With a decent standard, talented kids have a guarantee to make a living out of the game. In fact, they have all the right in the world to believe so because BCCI’s net worth is estimated at $2.25 billion (over Rs 18,700 crore) – 30 times more than Cricket Australia’s net worth ($79 million).
 
Even the women cricketers aren’t losing out much. Till sometime back, the international women cricketers got equal match fees like men and expected to make much more.
 
As per the last announced annual contract by the BCCI for the 2020-21 season, the women players were awarded Rs 50 lakh (Grade A), Rs 30 lakh (Grade B), and Rs 10 lakh (Grade C).  The refreshed version of women’s contact is about to be realised while the national women cricketers are also in line to get a hike while BCCI announces more bonanza to boost women cricket and its cricketers.
 
The best part of the story is that the game has just begun. There are more to come as we go along. It is estimated that cricket would be riding on Rs 80,000 crore by 2027. The Indian cricket board is already in the region of Rs 50,000 crore mark and by next two years, the valuation of income of these cricketers at all levels are also expected to go up by many folds. More and more funds are going to be added to cricket to make it the best profession in India, at least!