Finally, contracts through as juniors have their way

The board had originally proposed payments for the three grades at Rs 60 lakh, Rs 30 lakh and Rs 15 lakh respectively. This was after the seniors — captain Saurav Ganguly, vice-captain Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble and Sachin Tendulkar — had worked out a deal.

The seniors believed they were speaking on behalf of their younger mates as well, but received as rude shock during the pre-season camp at Bangalore. Specifically a group of young, high-profile players worried that the upper tier was earning a major chunk, the gap was too large; they prevented the contracts from being inked before the Asia Cup and forced the redraft.

BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya however said non-playing players of the team would get 50 per cent of the match fee as the board has not accepted the players’ proposal to make it 70 per cent.

The contracts are likely to be signed by the players before they leave for Holland tomorrow; the BCCI had received their okay only today. ‘‘Had this confirmation come two days earlier the contracts could have been signed by now’’, Dalmiya said. ‘‘Now let us see if it could be done tomorrow otherwise it would be done after the team returns from England.’’

He said players would be selected for the three grades by the board president, alongwith the chairman of national selection comittee Syed Kirmani, secretary S K Nair and coach John Wright.

Ganguly would also be consulted in this exercise, he said.