“Can be doubled or tripled,” Sunil Gavaskar urges BCCI to increase fees of Ranji Trophy players after Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer saga

He believes that if BCCI increases Ranji Trophy fees, then more players will start featuring in the matches.

“Can be doubled or tripled,” Sunil Gavaskar urges BCCI to increase fees of Ranji Trophy players after Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer saga

Sunil Gavaskar (Image via ESPNcricinfo)

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) made Ranji Trophy participation mandatory for the Indian players in order to get a place in the Test team. As Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan refrained from playing for their domestic teams, the BCCI terminated their contracts. This unprecedented move drew different reactions from the cricket fraternity.

Following the mandate, the BCCI also announced the ‘Test Cricket Incentive Scheme‘ to reward those who will feature in Tests regularly. Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar, who created records in Tests during his playing days, lauded the BCCI for the incentive scheme but also suggested a way to stop the players from pulling out of domestic cricket matches.

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Gavaskar recommended an increase in fees for the Ranji Trophy players. He believes that if BCCI increases Ranji Trophy fees, then more players will start featuring in the matches.

The Ranji Trophy fees can be doubled or tripled, certainly there'll be a lot more people playing the Ranji Trophy, (a) lot less pull outs from the Ranji Trophy, because if the fees of playing a Ranji Trophy match is a good fee there will be less people pulling out for various reasons.
Gavaskar told reporters during the 25th anniversary of his Foundation ‘CHAMPS’

A player in India gets Rs 40,000 per match-day for 1–20 matches. For 21–40 matches, a player gets Rs 50,000, while for 40-plus matches, they get Rs 60,000.

Sunil Gavaskar wants BCCI to give more breaks to Ranji Trophy players

After BCCI announced the new incentive scheme for Test matches, Shardul Thakur came forward to call for longer breaks instead of just three breaks they normally get between matches. After India’s series win against England, head coach Rahul Dravid was asked about Thakur’s suggestion, and he agreed to it. And now Sunil Gavaskar also wants the BCCI to consider the advice of Thakur.

Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar (Image via ESPNcricinfo)
In the three-day gap, what happens is that there's probably a day in between for travel. During travel, there's no time to go to the physio and maybe get help to get fit from a niggle.
Gavaskar said

And on Test cricket, the 1983 World Cup winner said that despite the T20Is and franchise cricket, the longest format “will definitely be around.” Gavaskar played 125 Test matches and amassed 10122 runs.

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