India domestic cricket: MCA contracts for players soon, hike for umpires

Sourav Ganguly. Pic/Suresh Karkera

The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) has become the first Indian state unit to introduce contracts for its domestic cricketers. The decision was taken in the MCA Apex Council meeting on Wednesday. It is a significant move to secure domestic cricketers.

"The Apex Council has unanimously agreed to introduce central contracts for our domestic players. We will entrust the CIC (Cricket Improvement Committee) to decide on details like the amount, who will qualify for it etc," MCA president Dr Vijay Patil told mid-day.

Prof Ratnakar Shetty, former BCCI Chief Administrative Officer and ex-MCA secretary, had in a recent interview to this newspaper, called for domestic contracts.

Ganguly's objective

Contracts to the domestic cricketers have been one of BCCI president Sourav Ganguly's objectives. Although there has been no significant headway since he took over in 2019, MCA has perhaps shown the way for the Indian cricket board and other state associations to follow.

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In another development, the MCA Apex Council has decided to match BCCI's reward of Rs 1 crore to its Ranji Trophy team that lost to Madhya Pradesh in the final. Ditto for the U-25 team that emerged champions in the CK Nayudu Trophy and for the U-19 team that lost in the final of the Cooch Behar Trophy.

Umpires felicitated

Meanwhile, at a packed MCA Lounge, umpires were felicitated (retired and current) in the presence of former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar, who lauded them for their "thankless" job. Retired umpires were provided a one-time benefit hike - Rs 50,000 as against the earlier Rs 10,000. Mumbai's former international umpires like Bomi Jamula, MR Singh and Suresh Shastri were accorded a standing ovation to end the function.