Sunil Gavaskar bats for higher pay for the cricketers

In the recent days, the Cricket Australia has been at the loggerheads with the players over the issue of the pay raise. The players have been asking for a hike in pay but the board is adamant on its stance regarding the same. Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has recently joined the long list of people backing the players fighting for the pay rise. The Aussie cricketers have gone to threaten the board about a possible boycott of the Ashes this season.

In a conversation with NDTV, Sunil Gavaskar spoke at length about the issue. He noted that everybody wants more payment. He noted that if the boards are generating better revenues, they must not shy away from sharing the revenues. Hence, it is all about having a good negotiation between the players and the board.

“Who doesn’t want more? If you feel you deserve more, you are definitely going to ask for it. The Australian players have looked at the possible revenues coming in and decided that they wanted a certain percentage of that. It’s a matter of sitting down at negotiations now,” quoted Sunil Gavaskar.

He further spoke about the issue that the CA offered its players. The Australian board offered the cricketers to stay back in Australia and skip the IPL. Gavaskar said that the call would have only been prudent if the payment offered was anywhere close to what the IPL has in store for the players. However, he maintained that he still feels bad for the Indian players not a part of the IPL.

“In IPL a lot of cricketers get more money in 45 days of cricket than what they would get in 2-3 seasons of their domestic cricket. Why would they give up playing in the IPL then? While you must not pamper them, you should be fair to them. The players need to be compensated for sure. I feel sorry for the Indian domestic player who does not play in the IPL,” he quoted.

He further added that he does not like the huge disparity in the payments of the IPL players and the domestic cricketers who do not play the tournament. “I don’t want to see the disparity where the Ranji Trophy player feels like the orphan of Indian cricket… … If that means there has to be a cap on uncapped players (in IPL auctions), so be it,” he said.

On why Indians do not play other T20 leagues

Speaking about why Indian players do not play the other leagues, Sunil Gavaskar cited that the only tournament which they can possibly play in their current schedule is the Caribbean Premier League. “They can only play the Caribbean Premier League as other tournaments clash with the Indian domestic season,” he conceded.