India's coach Anil Kumble demands 300% hike in players' salary

The head coach of the Indian cricket team Anil Kumble has called for an increase of 300% in the salary of the Indian players. In a letter written by him to the BCCI’s Committee of Administrators (COA), he has demanded the massive hike. Although his proposal is yet to be reviewed reports suggest that it was concerning to the shares of the players in the earnings of the board.

The share currently stands at 26%, but not from every source necessarily. Kumble’s proposal suggests that 26% of every source of income, including TV revenues, should go to the players. BCCI deducts 70% of the earnings and from the remaining 30%, 26% goes into the players’ accounts.

If we take into consideration the total income from the media rights in 2015-16, from Rs 648 crore, Rs 170 crores should go to the players as per Kumble’s calculation. But it believed that only Rs 50 crore were given to the players.

Rs 1,365 crore was the BCCI’s total earnings from all the sources last year and according to Kumble’s formula, the players should have received Rs 354 crore.

Additionally, under the current scenario, BCCI’s income from ICC does not impart anything to the players. For the next 8 years, it is being projected at Rs 3,000 crore.

Kumble reckoned that there should be a players’ share of this income too. If this happens, 26% of this income will increase the players’ share to a whopping Rs 750 crore or Rs 100 crore per year.

It still remains to be seen whether the CoA accepts Kumble’s proposal or not. But BCCI and CoA sources revealed that there was a proposal from Kumble. The initial discussion did take place during the annual awards night of BCCI in Bangalore following which Kumble sent a detailed proposal to the board.

The BCCI had recently given the players a 200% hike in their salaries and match fees for all formats of the game. If the proposal is indeed accepted, it would hike the salaries of the players another notch.