Overlooked off-spinner Harbhajan Singh in his fresh letter, on Wednesday, to team India’s head coach and his former teammate Anil Kumble stated that the legendary spinner should take up the matter of domestic players, who are getting low wages even having the richest board while referring to Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) at the helm.
“If I wouldn’t have played domestic cricket during last four-five years, I wouldn’t have known what an average domestic cricketer goes through. Not everyone has a job. By God’s grace, if they get an IPL contract their lives improve,” Harbhajan was quoted by PTI after the news wire accessed his later to Anil Kumble which further asked to take up the matter with Committee of Administrators (CoA).
The reports revealed which is further based on an average; the first class cricketer in India receives the match fee of INR 1.5 lakh as compared to a national Test player, who draw whopping INR 15 lakh for a Test match.
Kumble will be attending a conference to give a presentation on May 21 regarding revised pay structure of the contracted players with the CoA.
In his letter, Harbhajan requested Kumble to take up the matter with administrators alongside veterans of the game with the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag.
“It’s been last 2/3 years (that) I am playing Ranji Trophy. I hate that I’ve found constant struggle around me in the financial situation of my first-class teammates,” Harbhajan wrote to Kumble accessed by PTI.
Harbhajan, who has played 103 Tests for India, revealed the premier first-class Ranji Trophy tournament has not witnessed amendments from quite a long time.
“Even though Ranji Trophy is hosted by the richest cricket board in the world, I appeal to you as a player, who is an inspiration and role model for all Ranji players,” Harbhajan addressed in his later.
The third highest wicket-taker for India in the longer format of the game has bagged 417 Test wickets in 190 innings as he stated it’s difficult to chalk out the investments with the meagre amount available.
“I am willing to help/assist in any way to help bring in a change. It’s shocking to say the least that the payment system hasn’t been changed since 2004,” Harbhajan explained in his letter.
While discussing the financial structure, the grades for contracted players are given as INR 2 crore followed by INR 1 crore and INR 50 lakh respectively.
“I have achieved enough because of cricket and I have been fortunate to play close to 400 international matches for India. I am not talking for myself but those who are grinding it out at the domestic level,” Harbhajan said.
While taking a dig at the structure and asking the questions regarding Indian Premier League (IPL) which has become a household name among cricket followers, Harbhajan revealed there are not enough players, who get a chance to feature either in IPL or earn the lucrative contracts.
“But how many get IPL contracts? There will be hundreds of domestic cricketers who will not play for India or have an IPL contract but they are also cricketers just like any top India cricketer. They also have families, dreams, aspirations,” Harbhajan remarked.
Harbhajan while giving his piece of suggestion to supervise the domestic structure of the cricket by meeting much-required requirements of the different players, who has given everything to gentleman’s game.
“This is a request that these domestic cricketers are also looked after,” Harbhajan added.
Jalandhar-born Harbhajan has played 236 One-day Internationals in which he bagged 269 wickets at an average of 33.35.
The ICC Champions Trophy 2017 Ambassador for India last played his international match in March 2016. He is currently part of Mumbai Indians in this ongoing IPL season. He played 11 matches in which he claimed eight wickets at an average of 33.25