CHENNAI: “It was 500 rupees per day, 2500 rupees per Test match when I played against the West Indies at Eden Gardens,” recalls Karsan Ghavri about his first match fee as an India player. It was 1975 when cricketers had to have jobs to pay their bills. Banks, Indian Railways and several private enterprises recruited them.
What they earned playing was mostly to supplement that income. From those days to the present, when the BCCI has just doubled the match fees to Rs 15 lakh per Test, remuneration for Indian cricketers has risen 600 times. Add to that IPL and annual retainership money, it’s a formidable increase by any standards.
Other than indicating the volume of the business of cricket on TV, it also makes Indians the envy of peers from other countries. The latest hike is a development to please cricketers. And also to please those who believe the former set of BCCI administrators benefited more from the money players helped generate.
Given that the BCCI is earning more this fiscal from TV rights due to a packed home season, a hike was on the cards. By doubling the amount, those running the show have sent out a pro-player message. If they offer a raise to those toiling in the domestic circuit, it would make things better for everyone.
Players of the generation that missed the jackpot don't really regret it, but there are enough tales to tell how different and difficult it was back then.
Leg-spin wizard Bhagwat Chandrshekhar in his autobiography remembered how he and teammates used to stuff their pockets with biscuits on overseas tours to save their own food allowances. Bishan Singh Bedi too has narrated the hardships they had to endure because of lack of funds.
“There was nothing to complain, because there was no money. When after the Kerry Packer's rebel series in Australia we got a raise, it looked like a lot to us. And because many players did other jobs those days, playing for the country was not about money,” says Karsan Ghavri, who retired in 1981 earning around Rs 10,000 per Test match.
Ravi Shastri too mentioned after winning an Audi in Australia as Champion of Champions in 1986 how desperate he was for the car. There were reports that for a few years, when its proud owner was not using it, that Audi used to be rented out for Bollywood films.
That Shastri being a fairly well-to-do cricketer had to do that for a few dollars more shows how different the mindset was. Today's generation owes a 'thank you' to the brains that conceived this possibility and changed the game for good.