Furloughs, job layoffs and pay cuts came along with the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) in India seems to be no exception. Months have passed by with no cricket matches, and the Indian Premier League is being played behind closed doors in the United Arab Emirates.
The sports industry has taken a massive blow and BCCI has decided not to renew the contracts of 11 coaches at the National Cricket Academy (NCA), according to a report by The Indian Express. Among these trainers are five retired Indian players, namely, Ramesh Powar, SS Das, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Subroto Banerjee and Sujith Somsundar.
Rahul Dravid, Head of Cricket at the NCA, is said to have informed the coaches about the decision.
The coaches are employed on a contractual basis, and the year-long term is said to expire this month. Drawing a salary in the Rs 30-35 lakh bracket, five coaches told the news organisation that they were neither informed about the decision nor given any “real reason” for the layoff.
“We received a call from Rahul (Dravid) two days ago and he informed us that BCCI has decided not to renew our contract. There was no real reason given to us. He said he tried his best to retain us but he couldn’t do anything further. For the past three months, we have been attending webinars and planning activities for after Covid-19. Now suddenly, we are told that our services are no longer needed,” said one of the coaches, according to the report.
The BCCI’s balance sheet shows a cash and bank balance of Rs 5,526 crore as of March 2018, and Rs 2,992 crore in fixed deposits.
Cricket-related activities at the NCA were stopped ever since the first lockdown in March. However, in September, as various stages of ‘unlocking’ were implemented, BCCI-contracted players were given the option of training at the academy.
The coaches train the men’s and women’s senior teams during camps and rehabilitation programmes. They also tutor India-A, India U-19 and India U-23 developmental sides.