Test cricket must be lucrative for players, says Anurag Thakur

Anurag Thakur wishes to bridge the gap between big money earners in T20 and Test players to keep interest alive with the latter format.

Anurag Thakur has plenty on his plate after becoming the new BCCI president. (Source: AP)

CHETESHWAR PUJARA earns Rs 7 lakh from every Test he plays. Pawan Negi played eight matches for Delhi Daredevils this season after commanding Rs 8.2 crores at the auction. If new BCCI president Anurag Thakur has his way though that diabolically unfair disparity between what Test and T20 cricketers make from plying their respective trades could finally be fixed. At least for now, it looks like the richest cricket board in the world has finally woken up to the income inequalities that exist in the present T20-dominated climate of world cricket. Thakur insisted that the board was very keen on making the traditional format of the game an equally lucrative option to make sure that the modern-day players’ motivation to play Tests doesn’t wane off for good. And that paying them more was the best way out.

“If we need to keep the players’ interest in Tests alive, we’ll have to ensure that those playing Tests are better paid. We can’t hide away from the trend which we are witnessing among new cricketers (being more prone towards T20 cricket),” Thakur told The Indian Express. He went on to bring up the Pujara case as a prime example of the staggering imbalance that presently threatens the very future of Test cricket. Pujara, who has played 32 Tests and is an integral member of the Indian Test team, went unsold in the IPL auctions for the second year running and was denied a ticket to come aboard the glitzy T20 caravan. Negi on the other hand wasn’t even in India’s plans till three months ago, and to date has appeared in a solitary international T20—against UAE during the Asia Cup in March where he recorded figures of 1/16 in three overs—despite being a member of the World T20 squad. For the record, Negi picking up one wicket at an average of 84 and scored 57 runs at a strike-rate of 96.61 in the eight matches he played for Delhi Daredevils.

Parity is board’s prerogative
And Thakur believes it’s the BCCI’s prerogative to bring more parity in terms of player payments. “If you look at the players we have in our current setup in this context, Cheteshwar Pujara’s name springs up immediately. He is a very good cricketer but not in any IPL team. If we wants these kind of cricketers to have long careers, and to retain their focus on Tests, we need to make Test cricket a lucrative option,” the BCCI chief said.

It’s not difficult to fathom why there’s a worry that more and more cricketers in coming years will drift towards the shortest format of the game, considering the quick and the massive financial gains on offer. Even though Indian players aren’t permitted to appear in the many other profitable T20 leagues around the world, the IPL is a remunerative enough distraction for the passion to don whites for their country slipping down the priority list of future cricketers.

Former England captain Kevin Pietersen too had spoken about how the ICC should do something about luring the likes of Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo back to Test cricket. “The game needs context and Test cricketers deserve to be rewarded properly. Only then can we feel safe in the knowledge that Test cricket will survive. It is wrong that guys such as Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard and myself can earn a lot more money playing franchise cricket than cricketers who are Test regulars,” he wrote in his column for The Telegraph.

“I believe Test cricketers should be the best paid players in the world. Guys such as (Joe) Root should be earning the big money, not Twenty20 cricketers. If we play fewer Tests and pay the Test cricketers the money they deserve then the future of the game will be more assured,” he added.

Other cricketing luminaries, including West Indies ODI captain Jason Holder, around the world too have spoken out about the threat that exists for the future of Test cricket. Rahul Dravid, who coached the India U-19 team to the junior World Cup final before taking over as mentor for Delhi Daredevils, too had cautioned young players from wanting to only play in the T20 leagues by insisting that playing for the country should be the ultimate goal. “You don’t have to say ‘I’ll only become a T20 player’. That’s a dangerous trend because there’s only two months of T20 cricket. I don’t think young players need to sell themselves short. Their ultimate aim should be to play for India. That’s the gold medal for me; silver is playing the IPL,” Dravid had said.

Thakur had brought up the issue during the BCCI’s working committee meeting soon after taking over as president last week. With India set to play 18 Tests in the next nine months or so, the attention will return to cricket in whites before the IPL turns 10 in 2017. According to Thakur it’s not just important to keep players’ hooked on to Tests, but also to make sure that they are playing in front of big crowds. And the new president is confident that some of the new initiatives that the BCCI is planning to put in place, including hosting the first-ever day-night Test with pink balls on Indian soil, could go a long way in ensuring that.

“We are thinking of having 10 per cent seats for kids. I also think introducing new Test centres, especially those in smaller cities, will be a great way of bringing more people into the grounds. If not Dharamshala, we could even go to towns like Amtar and Nadaun, where the capacity is just 5000-10,000. But at least the stadiums will look fuller,” he said.