The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) may have been pushed on the backfoot regarding the coach issue, but as far as the contracts issue goes, it seems to have been able to negotiate a decent deal with the players at its meeting today. Board treasurer N Srinivasan said after the meeting that discussions were “fruitful”, and that all issues will be discussed and finalised at the working committee meeting in Delhi tomorrow.Skipper Rahul Dravid also called the discussions “fruitful” and said that he is “hopeful” that the contracts will be signed in the “next few days.” The Board had formed a committee, comprising Srinivasan, vice-president Shashank Manohar and former board president I S Bindra, to look into this.Srinivasan did not accept that there was a difference of opinion between the Board and the players and that “the Board and the players are not two entities”.The treasurer would not reveal the details of the discussions, saying it was a “private matter, between the players and the Board”, but The Indian Express has now learnt that the 25-day period that the players had been given by the Board to devote to their personal endorsements has now been extended. The exact number of days was not known, though.It was also learnt that the Board has agreed to relax the cap on endorsements (it was set at three, leading to heartburn), but the players will have to first satisfy the commitments towards the Board’s sponsors. However, the Board has stood its ground on the contentious gradation issue, saying there was no way it was going to bring it back. That left the players disappointed.Besides Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble were also part of the discussions.The contracts are due from October 1 last year.Apart from the contracts issue, tomorrow’s working committee meeting will also discuss Zee Group’s proposed Indian Cricket League, the itinerary of the upcoming series against Australia and Pakistan, and, of course, the Ford fiasco.Also, the Board has decided to be more lenient with sharing of television rights. Maybe the percentage available to the players will increase.
