New Delhi, Jan 27: Cut out all that talk of how much moolah your favourite cricketer is raking in. And take this reality check. Do you know how much Indian cricketers have paid in fines in the current series alone? Ever thought of comparing that figure with what you earn in a year?

The Indians might be setting the cricket world afire with their heroic performances in Australia . But earnings-wise, they should be feeling pretty down under given the fines they had to cough up in the course of the 82-day tour. But then, our cricketers are among the richest in the world. So, how down under they are feeling, only they can tell.

Skipper Saurav Ganguly has suffered the most at the hands of match referees and umpires. The latest charge came in the rain-truncated India-Australia day-nighter in Sydney. Match referee Clive Lloyd pulled up the Indian team for slow over rate citing ICC regulations. The rules decree that time wasting is one form of behaviour contrary to the spirit of the game. After the heavy downpour that interrupted the Sydney VB Series game, the Indians, who were fielding, had to repeatedly scrape off mud from their soles. The slow over rate breached the ICC code and Lloyd lost no time in penalising the entire team.

While the entire team was fined 15 per cent of its match earnings, skipper Ganguly was fined 80 per cent of his match fees. Thirty per cent for slow over rate as captain and 50 per cent for behaviour contrary to the spirit of the game. (Do you think that the action against the Indian players is too harsh?)

The players had embarked on the tour of Australia with Rs 31,96,800 in stake for each. The match fee per Test per player was Rs 2,25,000 including board fees and sponsorship money. For the ODIs, it is Rs 2,10,000. So, if you have played all the four Tests – Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney – you would have earned Rs 9 lakh. And if you play all the ODIs in the current tri-series, including at least two finals, you will be earning Rs 21 lakh.


Despite their valiant show, things have been going wrong money-wise for the Indians from the very beginning of the tour. The skipper has suffered the most at the hands of the match referees. In the first Test at the ’Gabba in Brisbane, match referee Mike Procter penalised India for slow over rate. Ganguly was fined 10 per cent of his match fee. That amounted to Rs 22,500 being taken away from Ganguly’s purse. And going by rules concerning slow over rate, each of the other members of the team was fined five per cent of his match fee. So, if you multiply Rs 11,250 by 10, the total comes to Rs 1,25,000.


Then came the infamous Rahul Dravid incident , again at the ’Gabba, in the one-dayer against Zimbabwe. Television cameras “caught” Dravid changing the condition of the ball. He made the mistake of applying saliva on the ball to keep the shine. He did it while sucking on a cough lozenge. Jammy, they said, was applying jelly on the ball. Fine? Fifty per cent of his match fees. That comes to Rs 1,05,000. Match referee: Clive Lloyd.


A heavier dose was yet to come. In the Sydney game against Australia, heavy rains lashed the floodlit game. The groundsmen too messed up a little by coming on to cover the pitch a little too late, stuck as they were with a gate that refused to open holding up the trolley carrying the covers. It was a pretty wet and muddy track when the match resumed. Obviously, the mud stuck to the soles and the Indians, fielding then, had to repeatedly stop and scrape off mud from their soles. Ganguly, who was bowling, had more trouble and TV cameras repeatedly showed him sitting down and taking off mud from his soles.


Given the slow over rate, the match referee (again Clive Lloyd) promptly fined each member of the Indian Eleven 15 per cent of their match fees. Leaving aside the captain, that comes to Rs 3,15,000. Ganguly, as captain, had to suffer more and the total amount he had to pay up was 80 per cent of his match. Thirty per cent of his match fees for slow over rate. And then 50 per cent of his match fees for breaching Level Two of the ICC code of conduct – behaviour contrary to the spirit of the game (here, time wasting). The total: Rs 1,68,000.

So, in one single match the Indians paid Rs 4,83,000 in fines. How much do you earn in a year, pal?

Team manager Shivlal Yadav later said that the team had accepted the referee’s verdict in good spirit. Some spirit! But then again, perhaps our rich cricketers can afford it.

The Indians were not the only ones at the receiving end of the referee’s ire in the current tri-series. Zimbabwe, after their match against Australia in Hobart, were also fined for slow over rate. Captain Heath Streak 20 per cent, and each of the other 10 members 10 per cent of their match fees.

The Australia series apart, some other players had to pay heavily for their indiscretions. Shaun Pollock last year was docked 100 per cent of his match for showing dissent at an umpire’s decision in a one-day match against Pakistan at Faisalabad.
After the 2001 Port Elizabeth Test against South Africa when match referee Mike Denness incurred the wrath of Indian cricket by fining Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, SS Das, Deep Dasgupta and Harbhajan Singh, the current series in Australia has been the most unkind to the Indians.

In the entire 2003 year, prior to the Australia series, only one Indian had to cough up a fine. Harbhajan Singh was fined 50 per cent of his match fee in the TVS Cup match in Dhaka against South Africa for directing foul and abusive language at the umpire. The match referee in that match was again Clive Lloyd.

In contrast, in the current series in Australia alone, the Indians, through their collective “indiscretions”, have made the ICC richer by Rs 7,35,500. Given you had saved that amount from your salary over the years, how would you have utilised it?

And the series is yet to end.