Walking the talk about giving the highest priority to Test cricket, the BCCI has decided to increase the match fee to up to Rs 45 lakh from the existing Rs 15 lakh for all those who play at least seven long-form games per season, Board secretary Jay Shah announced on Saturday.
A Test player, who gets to appear in a possible 10 Tests in a season will be richer by a whopping Rs 4.50 crore, apart from the assured retainer fee that he gets for having an annual central contract.
The incentives will be retrospective and would factor in players who were part of Test cricket during the 2022-23 season.
The decision was taken after some players like Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer and Deepak Chahar snubbed Ranji Trophy cricket to continue training with their IPL teams despite the Board's diktat to priortise red-ball cricket.
Currently, an Indian Test cricketer, who is picked in the playing XI gets Rs 15 lakh while the reserves get Rs 7.5 lakh.
"I am pleased to announce the initiation of the 'Test Cricket Incentive Scheme' for Senior Men, a step aimed at providing financial growth and stability to our esteemed athletes," Shah stated on 'X'.
"Commencing from the 2022-23 season, the 'Test Cricket Incentive Scheme' will serve as an additional reward structure on top of the existing match fee for Test matches, set at INR 15 lakhs," he further stated.
The BCCI also explained the module considering there could be at least nine Test matches per season.
If a player competes in up to four Tests from a possible nine per season, he would get the existing Rs 15 lakh per game while reserves draw in half of that.
However, a first eleven player will have his match fee doubled to Rs 30 lakh in case he ends up playing at least five to six games, with reserves being rewarded with Rs 15 lakh per game.
However, the moment a player is in the first XI for seven or more games in a season, he will be getting Rs 45 lakh per match with reserves getting Rs 22.5 lakh, which will be more than what the existing match fee (Rs 15 lakh) is for a playing XI cricketer.
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