Crore Daddies

GH on the BCCI's bounty

Jai Hind

Sunil Valson was a medium-pace trundler around forty years ago who had an honourable decade-long career, mainly for Delhi. He never played a Test or a one-day international, but was part of India’s 1983 World Cup squad, warming the benches as Kapil Dev’s team stormed to triumph in that seminal final. I’ve never forgotten Sunil, though, because of something I read at the time: in the national euphoria that ensued, it was reported, each team member was to be gifted an apartment in Delhi, including its non-playing squaddies. This, I remember thinking, was obviously a pretty good deal, making Sunil maybe the luckiest net bowler in history.

Sunil came to mind again last week on news of the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s showering more than $20 million - Rs 131 crore - on the winners of the T20 World Cup. That’s on top of the $3.7 million prize money they already received from the International Cricket Council. India has a long history of such beneficences, of course, and the Cup achieved colossal audiences. But the BCCI’s gratuity exceeds the total prize pool for the entire tournament. Sunil Valson’s counterparts are Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, and Washington Sundar, who played four games between them; hard lines to Harshit Rana, who did his knee in a warm-up game allowing in Siraj as a replacement. Coaches and support staff are apparently in for their chop, but NDTV reports that they are lower on the totem pole so we’re probably talking a neat million each: ‘While the BCCI did not provide any breakdown, sources told PTI that the cricketers will receive the lion's share of the Rs 131 crore prize money while the amounts for the support staff will be decided 'as per hierarchy'.’