The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Pension scheme for players, umpires

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 28, 2004

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Sport - Cricket

Pension scheme for players, umpires

NEW DELHI, APRIL 27. India's past and present Test cricketers, including those who have officiated as umpires in Tests, are in for a bonanza. In all 174 Test players and umpires will receive a monthly pension of Rs 5,000 for life, starting this month.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will be spending in excess of Rs 1 crore each year towards the welfare of former and present Test cricketers as well as umpires. The cheques to these beneficiaries will be delivered on April 30. This is a special gesture by the BCCI to mark its platinum jubilee celebrations this year.

Not just those who are impoverished but also the likes of megastars such as Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly would be receiving Rs 5,000 a month from the BCCI once they hang up their boots.

According to a BCCI spokesman, this pension scheme is a gesture from the BCCI in the year of its platinum jubilee. The scheme, which the Board has been trying to put together for sometime now, will finally see the light of the day and there is a broad spectrum of cricketers and umpires who have welcomed it.

``That's not bad, it would come as a relief to so many cricketers,'' remarked former Indian captain Bishen Singh Bedi, just back from the United Arab Emirates where he did television commentary on the India-Pakistan series.

The monthly stipend would come as a big relief to former cricket legends like Mushtaq Ali and Salim Durrani who have little financial support coming their way. For the likes of B.S. Chandrashekhar, the legendary leg-spinner whose fastish googlies used to bamboozle Test batsmen around the world, such a pension would be a great help.

The list, however, does not include cricketers who have represented India only in one-day Internationals, players like Reetinder Singh Sodhi or Ramesh Powar. The list would also not include scores of Indian umpires who have officiated only in one-day Internationals.

Also barred from the list is former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin. Azharuddin, who is in dispute with the Board and has gone to court, has been blacklisted. The benefit purse of Azharuddin, running into a few crores, has been withheld by the Board on the ground that the player has been banned for life for his alleged role in the match-fixing scandal.

The case is the reverse with Ajay Jadeja, who was banned for five years for similar reasons, yet fought it out in the court and has now been rehabilitated to the extent that he even captained North Zone in the Duleep Trophy this year.

Jadeja, according to the Board spokesperson, will be eligible for the pension. The BCCI has also clarified that the monthly pension would be provided to Test cricketers and umpires as long as they are alive. Once they are no more, it would not be forwarded to their nominees.

The BCCI, it is believed, has adopted this sympathetic attitude towards players and umpires after a few distressing incidents came to light in recent years. The most notable was that of former India captain Gulab Ramchand who was financially handicapped when he died last year although the Board did extend Rs 2 lakhs to him towards medical remuneration. — PTI

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