Cricket as career option has come to stay

Himadri Sarkar

Not so long back parents sent their children to Engineering/ Medical / Commerce colleges for further study to become Engineers/ Doctors/ Chartered Accountants etc but things have changed drastically since 1983 when India won their first World Cup in Cricket. It opened career opportunities for youngsters who were not  so good at studies. Till 1980’s Indian cricketers were paid a paltry ₹2500/- per Test match and ₹1500/- for ODI’s. Those who played cricket in those days played for the love of the game and felt proud representing their Country/State. They used to travel in trains, were lodged in non-star hotels and were paid a daily pocket allowance of ₹200/- per day. But things started looking up when Indian cricket and cricketers won the 1983 World cup. BCCI realised their potential as money spinners and started raising their salaries step by step.  Now even parents started sending their children to renowned Cricket Academies like Adiya Birla Cricket Academy, Rahul Dravid academy and some others. Then came IPL which actually opened the doors to budding cricketers. Now even cricketers who find th lowest bidder in the auctions earns more than lakhs in a season, travels by plane, is lodged in 5 Star hotels and every comfort is taken care of by their franchises.  Players in demand earn in crores in one season itself. This year the highest paid IPL star is Rishav Pant who gets Rs 25 crores. More and more youngsters are going for cricket as careers when they realised that school drop outs like Sachin Tendulkar or Virat Kohli were not only making pots of money but were making the country proud by their abilities and have became Icons. Not everybody can become Sachin or Virat but look at recent examples like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mohamed Siraj, Rinku Singh, Sarfaraz khan and recent sensation Nitish Reddy, all of whom came from very poor backgrounds but with their family support and their own hard work and determination they have reached the top and now earning in lakhs of rupees per season. Shown below are the remunerations of present-day cricketers —

Test matches—Rs 15L per match

ODI’S ————-Rs 6L per match

T20’S————–Rs 3L per match

Apart from these cricketers are now being graded whose annual salaries are:

Gr.A—Rs 7cr p.a.

Gr B—Rs 5cr p.a.

Gr. C—Rs 3cr p. a.

There are some 50 top cricketers who fall in this graded system. Other than these incomes, the top ones earn  crores of rupees from endorsements, TV rights, prize moneys and so on.  They travel by air, stay in 5 star hotels and expenses are paid by BCCI. The buck does not stop here. BCCI has recently started a pension scheme for cricketers who represented the country and are now retired and played at least 5 Test matches. Their life long pension starts from Rs 30,000/-pm to Rs 70000/-pm. depending upon their status and number of tests played. Ex cricketer Vinod Kambli is now living on BCCI Pension and he has no other source of income. He is physically unwell now and his entire hospital & medical expenses are being taken care of by BCCI. Nowadays those who have retired from the game are earning crores of rupees through commentating, umpiring, endorsements etc. Today players like Sachin, Virat are worth more than Rs 1,000 crores and Virat is still playing. In the final analysis it can be said that like any other profession only a few reach the top with their ability and hard work. But certainly, cricket has opened a new channel and a career option for those youngsters who have the initiative and drive.

 (The views expressed are personal opinion of the author.)