MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli ensured heavy paychecks for the Indian side

Many eyebrows were raised when BCCI released the new pay structure for their contracted players a few days ago.

While several stars including Kohli, Dhawan and Bumrah got the highest A+ contracts, the likes of Pandya, Dhoni and other stars were given lower grade contracts, something that surprised quite a few people.

A Players Revenue / Compensation Equalization Fund was formed in order to create a pay parity between all the players. Only those cricketers who play in all formats of the game, and are among the top ranked players in the world will be given the highest contract.

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This is what a BCCI official had to say,

“The CoA recognises that the actual income of the BCCI fluctuates on an annual basis depending on the number of home matches Team India (senior men) plays.

“Hence, to insulate the player compensation, the CoA has sanctioned the creation of a Players Revenue / Compensation Equalization Fund” (PR/CEF) to which the BCCI will contribute approximately ₹125 cr per annum from its surplus,” Rai said in a statement.

According to the upgraded contracts, players who fall under the A+ category will receive INR 7 crore per annum. The ones who fall under the A, B and C categories pocket INR 5, 3 and 1 per annum.

Apparently Kohli and Dhoni had suggested this to the board, as the star duo did not want players who only play one format for India suffer from a financial point of view.

“This suggestion originated from Virat and MS in the discussions. Their logic was this category would have only players featuring in all three formats, players who are in the top-10 rankings.

“They wanted a category of pure excellence where you perform and you are rewarded. And hence the players would not occupy a permanent slot in this category because if you don’t perform then you slip down the order.”