To cut the pay disparity between those who play domestic cricket and those who feature in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) confirmed that Mumbai players will receive a 100% pay hike from next season onwards.

This decision was taken during MCA's apex council meeting. As per BCCI's current paying regime (at Ranji Trophy level) across three slabs, the players with over 40-first-class matches will earn INR 60,000 per day, while those within the 21-40 game bracket will pocket INR 50,000 each day. However, the newcomers and those with less than 20 Ranji caps will earn INR 40,000 per day. Take the example of a player who has played less than 20 first-class matches in the Ranji Trophy - in case he played all 10 games during a season, the player would earn INR 17.2 lakh. However, with the pay hike scheme coming into the picture from the next season onwards, the same player would now earn INR 34.4 lakh. This number would be significant for those placed in the higher brackets. IPL 2024: KKR's Harshit Rana heavily fined by BCCI for on-field antics "We felt that the player should earn more, especially, those who play Ranji Trophy cricket. For us, red-ball cricket matters the most as the Ranji Trophy holds a special place for everyone in Mumbai," MCA president Amol Kale said.

BCCI's incentive scheme triggered pay rise

Following the completion of the India-England Test series at home, the BCCI secretary Jay Shah announced the introduction of a 'Test incentive scheme.' As per the new scheme, those who will feature in more than 75% of Tests in a season will earn INR 45 lakh up and above their usual match fees. However, the number of players playing 50-75% of matches during a complete season will bag INR 30 lakh, whereas, those falling in the category of players with less than 50% appearance during the Test cycle will not earn any perks. Meanwhile, former India and Mumbai great Sunil Gavaskar voiced his support for the domestic players, urging BCCI to double or triple their salaries, which further helps to support the Indian Team's feeder system. "If the Ranji Trophy fee can be doubled or tripled, certainly there will be a lot more people playing the Ranji Trophy, [and a] lot less pullouts," Gavaskar had said. "They will all be wanting to play with the slab system - [if] every ten first-class matches you get that much more - so I would request the BCCI to look at that aspect as well," Gavaskar said.