After meeting Virat Kohli, CoA chief Vinod Rai promises to restructure players' compensation package

Courtesy: PTI

New Delhi: The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) met with India captain Virat Kohli, head coach Ravi Shastri and former skipper MS Dhoni in New Delhi on Thursday to discuss players' pay hike request and other pressing issues.

After the meeting, CoA chief Vinod Rai said that they had an extensive discussion with the players on issues which are directly related to them, including the compensation package and Future Tour Programme (FTP). With player contracts having already expired on September 30, salary issue was probably the key negotiating point.

We had extensive discussion with the players and spoke to them on the number of matches they play, the Future Tour Programme (FTP) and compensation package etc. The discussions were fruitful: Committee of Administrators Chief Vinod Rai in Delhi pic.twitter.com/N0NlZU74tL

— ANI (@ANI) November 30, 2017

Addressing the salary hike issue, Rai said that it will "now match the revenue with the compensation that each player will receive."  The modalities of the new pay structure are, however, not yet known.

According to reports, Indian players currently earn less than 8% of the BCCI's revenue and Rai had early expressed his desire to change it by hiking the salary of the cricketers.

However, Indian cricketers under central contracts enjoy a two-fold rise with top players in group A earning Rs 2 crore annually. Earlier, they were drawing Rs 1 crore. Besides, per Test match fee for the first XI players stands at Rs 15 lakh, while they are paid Rs six lakh and Rs three lakh per ODI and Twenty20 respectively. The players outside first XI but in the squad are paid half these amounts.

And despite the cent percent hike in annual contracts, the players were not happy. It's pertinent to mention that previous coach Anil Kumble had given a presentation to the CoA about raising it to Rs 5 crore for Grade A cricketers.

About the FTP, Rai said that "we agree with them [players] and will look into it so that they get enough rest and the number of days we cannot say cause we are yet to work it out."

On the eve of the Kolkata Test, Kohi had said that he also needs break.

Tough to speak on workload. There's a lot of talk about whether players should be rested or not. From the outside it looks like why are people asking for rest. Everyone played same number of games. But it's important to understand that not everyone had the same kind of workload in every game that you play. We have built such a strong core team now of 20-25 players, you don't want important players breaking down at important times. That is where the balance needs to be maintained. It's humanly impossible to maintain the same kind of intensity for a player who plays all three formats. Definitely, I do need a rest. When I think that my body needs to be rested, I'll ask for it. I am not a robot you can cut my skin and check, I bleed" Kohli had said.

It served as a warning, especially ahead of an important series in South Africa starting in January, and the Indian selectors heeded. The skipper will not take part in the ODI series against Sri Lanka, thus giving him enough time to rest.