Date:14/09/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/09/14/stories/2007091461542000.htm

Sport - Cricket

BCCI contracts stay

Principal Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India, on Thursday, decided to continue with the existing contract system for the players until the Gradation Committee comes up with the final proposal.

“There was no time for us to go into the nitty-gritty of the contract, so we have decided to continue with the present system,” said the BCCI Secretary, Niranjan Shah.

Four senior players — Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly and Anil Kumble, met the Contract Committee and agreed to continue with the prevailing system.

The special meeting was convened by the BCCI President Sharad Pawar and attended by Vice-President Shashank Manohar, Treasurer N. Srinivasan and former President I.S. Bindra.

“The Gradation Committee will meet early next month to finalise how many players will come under its purview,” said Mr. Shah.

Differences arise

The differences between the BCCI and the players cropped up after the debacle in the World Cup forced a stalemate over the contract issue as a result of which the BCCI extended the 2005-06 contract by another year.

Even that was done in June, nine months after the expiry of the contracts.

During the earlier negotiations, Manohar had taken a tough stand calling for performance-linked contracts.

According to the existing contracts, players in the A grade get an annual retainer of Rs. 50 lakh while the amount is Rs. 35 lakh and Rs. 20 lakh for the Grade B and C players.