Sourav Ganguly to hike domestic players' salaries upto ₹70 lakh per annum: Report

Sourav Ganguly's arrival at the helm of the BCCI's affairs in September 2019 has led to a lot of rapid changes in Indian cricket. Within a month of him taking the office, India played its first-ever Day-Night Test and multiple agendas for the advancement of Indian cricket followed. Now, the Ganguly administration wants to make sure that the players do not ignore domestic tournaments like Ranji Trophy, due to the lack of big cheques.

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Sourav Ganguly: Ranji Trophy cricketers to make ₹50-70 lakh per annum

A massive differentiator between the IPL and the BCCI's remaining domestic tournaments is the ability to earn a large sum of money for a few weeks of cricket as compared to the domestic season. Sourav Ganguly aims to change that and wants to make the sport worthwhile financially for domestic cricketers, especially those who may not land up lucrative IPL contracts each season. A recent Sportskeeda report quoted an unnamed BCCI official, who claimed that players can now stand to make ₹50-70 lakh per annum just from playing domestic cricket (eg: Ranji Trophy) after the new pay hikes are announced. The hike is said to be more than 200% that the erstwhile Committee of Administrators (CoA) had announced in 2017.

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The report states that the hikes have not been announced yet as the BCCI is working on combatting the COVID-19 pandemic. However, an update can be expected soon after the situation is taken care of. The BCCI might have to also evaluate the revenue-sharing pattern to maintain good enough profits. The move, in general, is an incentive for players to not give up on domestic cricket.

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IPL 2020 postponed: BCCI to monitor situation before IPL 2020

The coronavirus pandemic in India led to the BCCI having IPL 2020 postponed to a date beyond April 15. The COVID-19 cases in India are now reaching the 5000-mark and in a situation like this, the fate of IPL 2020 becomes very tough to predict. Among the many reports that have emerged, one has suggested that the IPL may be shelved entirely while another one has suggested that the IPL could be played instead of the World T20 if the latter gets cancelled. The BCCI is yet to make an official announcement on the matter.

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