"If the Ranji Trophy fees can be doubled or tripled" - Sunil Gavaskar calls for BCCI to introduce Test cricket-like incentives

Former Indian opening batter Sunil Gavaskar has urged the BCCI to increase the Ranji Trophy fees to attract more players to participate in it. Gavaskar lauded BCCI's move to introduce incentives for Test cricket and wants them to do the same in the domestic circuit.

Recently, BCCI Secretary Jay Shah introduced a 'Test Cricket Incentive Scheme' that serves as a reward structure above the existing match fee for red-ball internationals. Players playing more than seven matches in a 9-Test season will get a significant amount of money.

Speaking on the sidelines of an event of Champs Foundation in Mumbai, Gavaskar said more incentives will lead to fewer players pulling out of the Ranji Trophy matches. The 74-year-old wants BCCI to take a look at providing incentives. As quoted by Cricbuzz, he said:

"If the Ranji Trophy fees can be doubled or tripled, certainly there'll be a lot more people playing the Ranji Trophy, and a lot less pullouts from the Ranji Trophy, because if the fees of playing a Ranji Trophy match are a good fee, there will be fewer people pulling out for various reasons."

"I think what Rahul Dravid said, when it was announced in Dharamsala, that he would like to call it a reward. They will all be wanting to play with a slab system - every 10 first-class matches you get that much more so I would request the BCCI to look at that aspect as well."

The 2024 Ranji Trophy season saw players like Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer pulling out of it, creating a bad impression on the BCCI. While Shreyas returned for the final, he couldn't prevent his omission from the central contracts list.

---

"My personal opinion is to have the Ranji Trophy from October to mid-December" - Sunil Gavaskar

Mumbai cricket team. (Credits: Twitter)

Gavaskar believes that white-ball domestic tournaments should be played after the Ranji Trophy, so everyone can feature in the competition.

"My personal opinion is to have the Ranji Trophy from October to mid-December and then bring in the white-ball tournaments. That way, everybody will be available to play except for the ones featuring for India. There will be no real excuse to pull out. With the one-dayers beginning from January, people who are in the IPL can have enough practice from then."

Mumbai won the 2024 Ranji Trophy competition by beating Vidharba in the final. It was their record 42nd title.