Jaydev Unadkat backs the idea of central contracts for the domestic cricketers

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic saw the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) cancelling the Ranji Trophy for the first time in 87 years. The cancellation of the domestic tournaments has caused a financial crisis for many domestic players in India. There are many players who rely only on match fees as their main source of income and have no other means to feed their families.

Though the BCCI assured that they will provide compensations to the domestic cricketers, there has been a massive delay in the payments. Meanwhile, many players are now coming up with the demands of having contracts for the domestic players just like the BCCI has for the Indian team members.

Saurashtra captain and India player Jaydev Unadkat opined on the misery of the players saying that the cricketers at the age-group levels should be compensated for the lack of cricket. The left-arm seamer added that having contracts at the state level will provide a sense of security to all the players and will motivate them to perform better.

“Talks over central contracts were happening even before the pandemic. Even cricketers at the age group level should be compensated for the lack of cricket, it will keep them motivated and then hand contracts to senior players. You can’t give contracts to all but you can pick top-30 players for contracts. A pool of 30 players sounds feasible to me,” Unadkat said as quoted by Times of India.

I hope BCCI will support us in these tough times with a good compensation package: Chhattisgarh captain

Further, Chhattisgarh captain Harpreet Singh Bhatia also backed the idea of having contracts for the domestic players. Speaking about his own misery, the skipper reckoned that he was forced to go to the United Kingdom to play cricket and make some money. The cricketers further hoped that BCCI will be supportive of the players and will provide them with good compensation packages.

“I played all of 10 white ball games in the last season. It wasn’t enough clearly. I had to come to the UK to make extra money. If I had a central contract back home, it wouldn’t be a compulsion for me to play in the UK. The BCCI has been supportive in the past and I expect it will support us in these tough times with a good compensation package and hopefully contracts from the state associations,” Bhatia said.