For decades, they sat at the edge of cricket grounds, scorebook open and pen moving with every delivery. They recorded the runs, wickets, milestones and records that became part of Indian cricket’s history. Their work was rarely seen, but it had to be right.

Then, in 2022, when they turned 65, they had to stop.

Now, with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)’s Annual General Meeting scheduled for Friday, 17 surviving retired panel scorers have appealed to the Board for a monthly pension of Rs. 15,000, medical insurance and a one-time ex-gratia payment.

The appeal represents a wider group of 19 former BCCI panel scorers, two of whom, M.S. Rahman and Kaushik Saha, are deceased.

The other members of the group comprise BV Venkatesh, Uday Gharat, SK Chaturvedi, M Nagraj, Gautam Roy, Tapash Roy, N Lakhotia, V Ghosalkar, NK Nalwaya, Ramesh Parab, R Bhaskar, Vivek Gupte, Ravichandran, OP Sharma, TP Chennakesavalu, Suhas Sapre, and Sunil Landge.

Together, the 19 represent more than 600 years of service to Indian cricket. Several have scored more than 100 BCCI matches. The scorers have also submitted a detailed record of their careers to the BCCI.

Their compilation shows that the 17 surviving members have scored approximately 8,810 matches, including 688 Tests and ODIs, over a combined 517 years of scoring service. One scorer has approximately 130 Tests and ODIs to his credit.

For many, the journey began in an era when scoring was a modestly paid and largely invisible job. Gautam Roy, for instance, began scoring in the mid-1980s, when the daily payment was just Rs. 25.

That changed in 1997, when Jaywant Lele, then BCCI secretary and a former umpire, decided to bring scorers under the ‘match officials’ umbrella.

Tests were conducted and a batch of scorers was brought into the system. They were never formally recruited as BCCI employees.

Instead, they were given certificates and appointed on a match-by-match basis, initially earning Rs. 500 per match day. The fee rose gradually as the game grew. It reached Rs. 10,000 a day in 2018-19 and now stands at Rs. 15,000.

“We built the system when there was no money, but we retired just when the money came,” Roy, who has officiated at several international and domestic matches, told Sports stars.

The retirement question came much later.

Until 2019, there was no specified retirement age for BCCI panel scorers. In August that year, then BCCI General Manager (Cricket Operations) Syed Saba Karim informed the scorers that they would have to retire at 60. The age limit was subsequently raised to 65 following an appeal by the scorers and the intervention of then BCCI president Sourav Ganguly.

It was that 65-year ceiling that eventually brought the BCCI careers of the present group to an end.

“Together, we have more than 600 years of service to Indian cricket. Several members have scored more than 100 BCCI matches, but post retirement, we haven’t received any help.

So, it would be kind of the Board to acknowledge our efforts,” Roy said.

For the scorers, the issue is not what the profession pays today. It is what happens after a working life spent serving the game ends at 65.

Suhas Sapre, a veteran scorer from Vadodara, believes the BCCI can address that gap.

“We were never employees of the BCCI, we were family. We are the last family members left out,” Sapre said. “The BCCI has been magnanimous to players, umpires and curators. We are confident the BCCI will hear us.”

Earlier this year, Roy raised the matter with BCCI president Mithun Manhas and General Manager, Cricket Operations Abey Kuruvilla.

“He (Manhas) told us to put up a formal request, and the Board will look into the matter. We are hopeful that they will consider our appeal,” Roy said.

The pension component of the request, Rs. 15,000 a month for each of the 17 surviving scorers, would amount to Rs. 30.6 lakh a year. The one-time ex-gratia request, meanwhile, has been made in recognition of the wider 19-member group.

For the individual scorers, now largely in their sixties and seventies, the proposed pension and medical support would provide some assistance with everyday and healthcare expenses.

“Quite a few scorers did not have an alternative career, so they are struggling post retirement. If the Board helps us out, it would benefit a lot of families,” Sapre added.

Their appeals have been submitted through the Baroda Cricket Association and other units, including the Mumbai Cricket Association and Gujarat Cricket Association. The detailed service records of the 17 surviving scorers have also been sent to the BCCI as part of their representation.

They counted every run for decades. Now they hope Indian cricket will count them.