'No discussion with the members' - Wasim Khan plays down talks of pay disparity among Test playing nations

Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting raised a pivotal issue regarding the pay disparity between Test-playing nations at the curtain raiser of the World Test Championship final earlier this month. However, ICC general manager of Cricket Wasim Khan revealed that, while the issue was raised in the meeting, it failed to draw the interest of the committee. 

Ricky Ponting's opinions on pay disparity among Test playing nations drew a lot of attention. The batting icon's take on the issue highlighted the importance of lower pay gaps between players representing their respective nations in the longest format of the game. 

While several former cricketers showed their support for the Aussie legend after his strong-worded opinion. ICC general manager Wasim Khan revealed that the highly debatable topic was dropped from their discussions in their recent meeting. He established that there has been no concrete talk with the members on that topic.

"I think it was perhaps a misquote. It was raised initially within the ICC Cricket Committee. It was a discussion point but certainly nothing was taken forward around payments to players. Ricky's views were a discussion point as many things are within the Cricket Committee, but there has been no discussion with the members with regards to that," Wasim said in a select media interaction.

With the emergence of leagues, there has to be a way to co-exist: Wasim Khan

The ICC official stated that while there are concerns in the cricketing fraternity regarding the emergence of franchise leagues, hampering the motivations of cricketers to play red-ball cricket, the boards will need to find a way to co-exist to maintain the importance of Test cricket among players. 

"What is fair to say is what the members will be receiving in the next cycle will be greater than what they have received previously. The players' payments are down to the members [individual boards]. With the emergence of leagues, there has to be a way to co-exist.

We have to co-exist moving forward. The great thing is that members have signed up for WTC for the next eight years. We have some of the top stars of the game talking about the importance of Test cricket," he added.