The second wave of COVID-19 gave Indians the rudest shock of their lives as people were of the opinion that they got over with the first wave of the virus and soon things would be back to normal. In fact, many people even stopped following the safety guidelines, such as wearing masks, maintaining social distancing, etc.
It has been more than one year that we have been fighting with this lethal virus and in this duration while many people lost their lives, there are a number of individuals who have lost their jobs whereas some had to bear with pay cuts because the businesses are closed due to lockdown. Moreover, there are many organizations that have decided to shut down their businesses as they are not able to bear losses anymore.
The Indian cricketers have also got affected badly due to the coronavirus pandemic as no cricketing action took place for quite a long time. Though it is a common notion that the Indian cricketers are pretty rich, it certainly doesn’t hold true in case of each cricketer because only those cricketers earn huge who play for the country. The cricketers who play in the Indian Premier League also take home pretty big amount but there are many other cricketers who play only in the domestic circuits such as Ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy, Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, etc.
What makes it more difficult for these cricketers to survive is the delay in their payments because of poor coordination between the state units and the BCCI. While Ranji Trophy 2020-21 didn’t take place because of the coronavirus pandemic, the cricketers who played in the Ranji Trophy 2019-20 edition are still waiting for their remuneration. The BCCI officials may cite the issue of coronavirus for the delay in payments as the Mumbai office was closed for a pretty long period but if we go by some of the Indian cricketers, this trend of delaying payments is not new and they have been bearing with it for a long time now.
Shreevats Goswami, the Bengal cricketer who plays for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL, has taken a jibe at the cricket board by saying that he has never been able to understand the reason behind the delay in payments of First Class cricket. He writes that it has been happening for ages now and usually the cricketers don’t complain about it but if they do, they are considered to be arrogant.
Shreevats Goswami was responding to a tweet which talked about the poor condition of the Indian cricketers because no Ranji Trophy took place this year and payments have also been delayed. As per The Indian Express, many Indian cricketers are playing in the local leagues of United Kingdom where they are getting paid 150 pounds a week only but they have no other option as they have to take care of their family and also have to pay their financial liabilities.
Never understood the delayed payment system in first class cricket .This is been happening for ages now. We never complain but if we do people think we are arrogant & asking for favours
— Shreevats goswami (@shreevats1) May 28, 2021
The IPL 2021 also got postponed mid-way due to COVID-19 and for quite some time, there are no chances of any cricketing action taking place in India but BCCI certainly needs to come up with proper salary distribution program so that cricketers don’t have to suffer.