By The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has taken significant steps to preserve Test cricket, announcing incentives for players participating in the longest format of the game in India. In a groundbreaking move, BCCI Secretary Jay Shah revealed that both playing and non-playing members of Test squads would benefit from the scheme.
“The objective is to promote and safeguard Test cricket,” Shah stated to Cricbuzz following India’s 4-1 series victory over England in Dharamsala. “Even non-playing members of the squad will be included in the scheme,” he added.
The decision was met with praise, including from former England captain Kevin Pietersen, who lauded the effort to protect Test cricket. “Highly commendable that @JayShah is doing his utmost to protect Test Cricket! We need powerful leaders to stand up for Test Cricket like this! (sic),” Pietersen remarked on social media.
According to the rewards outlined by Shah, players appearing in more than 50 percent of Test matches in a year will receive a Rs 30 lakh incentive, while non-playing members will receive Rs 15 lakh per match. Those participating in 75 percent of Tests will earn Rs 45 lakh per game, with non-playing members receiving half that amount, Rs 22.5 lakh. This is in addition to the Rs 15 lakh match fee earned by players for each Test.
This initiative aligns with the BCCI’s stance on players who neglect red-ball cricket in domestic matches. Players like Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were excluded from central contracts due to their avoidance of red-ball cricket, specifically the Ranji Trophy.
The BCCI’s decision comes at a time when Test cricket is losing prominence in other cricketing nations. For example, Cricket South Africa recently sent an experimental team to New Zealand for a Test series.
India coach Rahul Dravid expressed regret that such incentives were necessary to protect Test cricket. He viewed the BCCI’s announcement as a recognition (reward) rather than an inducement (incentive).
“It’s nice that the BCCI is recognizing it… I think it’s a reward, not an incentive,” Dravid stated after the Dharamsala Test. “Looking at the guys who came in and played in this series, I think everyone wants to play Test cricket. It’s just a recognition of what you need to be able to do to survive and play in Test cricket. It’s only when you get here that you realise that sometimes it’s quite tough and it is not easy but it is extremely satisfying. In especially a series like this (the just-concluded five-Test series against England) and Test matches we’ve seen in the last 4-5 months, if they are well supported and well documented by people like you, I am sure that there will be a lot of people still wanting to play test cricket,” Dravid told the post match media conference.
“I really hope money is not going to be the incentive to play Test cricket. It’s just nice the hard work and how tough Test cricket can be is being recognised. So I wouldn’t see it as an incentive to make people play Test cricket, I hope not. I hope it never really comes to that. And it takes a special person to do what (R) Ashwin has done, to play 100 Test matches. You go through a lot, and rightly so. You guys celebrated Ashwin today, and Jonny Bairstow, you’ve celebrated (Ben) Stokes a few games ago. Because I think all of you recognize how challenging the format is and what it takes to be able to have consistency and to be able to survive the test of time in this format. We don’t celebrate 100 T20s in the same way, do we?,” Dravid, who has played 164 Tests, said.
