The BCCI has cleared the quarterly dues of all its centrally-contracted cricketers and vowed not to let anyone suffer despite the uncertainty triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Major cricket boards like those of England and Australia have indicated that players will have to take pay cuts.
“When the lockdown was announced on March 24, the BCCI was ready for any eventuality. The Board clears quarterly instalments of central contract payments to its players,” a BCCI official told PTI.
“Plus the match fees of all those who played for India and India-A during this period, all these dues were cleared at the end of the financial year,” he said.
The England and Australian players have admitted openly that they are bracing up for pay cuts.
The announcement of central contracts has been postponed in Australia, while England skipper Joe Root has applied for furlough along with his Yorkshire teammates. Under the furlough scheme, the British government pays 80 per cent of wages — up to £2,500 — per month.
A BCCI official said the Board’s financial stability helps in testing times when some of the other boards are struggling to even pay their domestic players. “Neither our international nor our domestic cricketers will suffer,” the official said.
