The Board's announcement calling for applications comes a day after the team flew off for Champions Trophy; Kumble earlier sought a 150% pay hike for top-rung players
Anil Kumble
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The last date for submission of applications is May 31, one day before the Champions Trophy gets underway in England.
The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) will oversee the entire process. The release also said that the three-member Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), consisting Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman, will conduct interviews and seek presentations. Current coach, Kumble, will be a direct entry in the selection process.
The timing of the announcement, one day after the team's departure for the CT, however has raised few eyebrows given that Kumble took a very tough stance seeking massive restructuring in the central pay structure during a meeting with the BCCI top brass in Hyderabad recently. Skipper Virat Kohli joined the discussion via Skype. Some of the points that Kumble made during the meeting are: 1. A hike of 150 per cent in annual retainership for Grade A players —Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni, R Ashwin, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja and Murali Vijay. 2. A 30 per cent hike in his salary. 3) A 25 per cent 'captaincy fees' as the skipper takes more responsibility than others. 4) A fee hike for the support staff and 5. A position in the selection committee being head coach.
This ain't enough?
Interestingly, the BCCI had doubled the retainership of Grade A players from Rs 1 crore to Rs 2 crore earlier this year. Even then, it is much less than what the Australian and England players earn. So, Kumble has put forward a proposal to increase the retainership to Rs 5 crore for the players in the top bracket. "With due respect to Kumble and Kohli, all demands made by them during the meeting in Hyderabad recently have been taken into consideration. Whatever they suggested have been put before the CoA and they will take a final call. What Kumble was asking, two-three players fees is equal to what an association gets to run their expenses for a year," a BCCI source said.
But has the announcement for coach's selection anything to do with Kumble's demands? "His contract expires with the Champions Trophy so it is only natural that the BCCI calls for fresh applications. The way Kumble put his demands forward, it seems he was under the impression that he would get an automatic extension. But that can't be the case. Kumble can also apply, and if selected he will be the coach again," said a source, adding "Some of Kumble's demands are simply inexplicable."
Spot in selection panel unlikely
Kumble's demand for a position in the selection committee could be a deviation from the Lodha Committee recommendations as it is clearly mentioned that only three selectors would comprise the selection committee. As per BCCI constitution too, the coach or the captain attends selection meetings but they don't have a vote. In order to do that, the constitution needs to be revamped. They have already made it clear that they won't increase the current 26 per cent revenue that is reserved for the cricketers and would work around that model.
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