Former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni now is relegated from the top-paid category of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday. According to the new ratings by the BCCI, the players in the A+ category will get a central contract, it means the players will be paid Rs. 7 crore each.
There are five players in this category. The list includes Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah. There is another category called A Category in which the players will be paid Rs 5 crore along with Ravi Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Wridhhiman Saha.
When asked about the demotion of MS Dhoni, a BCCI official said, “It’s a simple logic that selectors have applied. Play more and get paid more. The five in question are indispensable in all three formats right now. They deserved to be paid more. Also Ravi Shastri, Kohli and Dhoni have been taken into confidence.”
MS Dhoni, who is no longer a part of the Test Cricket Team for India, wanted only the players who represent India in all the three formats of the game. In a sense, he kept the interests of the players before his own.
“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,” the BCCI official added.
The former Indian coach Anil Kumble had initiated the discussions about the pay scale and had recommended the top contract of INR 5 crore in his presentation before CoA committee and the BCCI bosses.
There are many players that are missing out from the list like Ambari Rayudu, the recently retired Ashish Nehra, Yuvraj Singh and many others. Suresh Raina, who wasn’t part of the cricket contract in the last year, is included in the list now.
The recognizable name in the list that is missing out is Mohammed Shami, who has been withheld based on the allegations of the domestic violence and adultery by his wife. BCCI made a clarification that his name might be included in the future.