An eight-wicket haul including a hat-trick in the first innings to lead your side to its maiden Ranji Trophy title – young Rajneesh Gurbani would have certainly hoped for a better sum than Rs 25,000 awarded to him as the player of the match. But the harsh reality continues to be the same in Indian cricket, first class cricket to be precise.


25,000 was all Gurbani got after toiling for five long days and bowling his hear out in the final of India's premiere domestic tournament. Whereas a cheque of Rs 1,00,000 is disbursed to the Man of the Match in the Indian Premier League. Yes, the formats are different, so are the dynamics and crowd following but the sharp difference in the remuneration of Ranji Trophy and IPL is bound to raise eyeballs. 


Winning amount given by BCCI to the Ranji winners this year is Rs 2 Crore while on the other hand the cash-rich IPL provides Rs 15 Crore to the winners.


India’s domestic cricket (Ranji Trophy being at the pinnacle of all) is regarded as the factory known for producing international level cricketers. But as far as remunerations to the domestic players are concerned the question has often popped up whether players are getting what they deserve. 


The picture from Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore, with Rajneesh Gurbani holding MoM cheque has yet again proved that the BCCI has not been paying any attention to its domestic cricket. With all the efforts put in by the players, are they being reimbursed in the right manner? 


After a prize money of Rs 2 Crore was awarded by the BCCI to the winning team, The Vidarbha Cricket Association also announced distribution of an additional Rs 3 crore to the players. 


Currently, 26% of the annual revenue of the BCCI is split three ways and 13% is given for international players, 10.6% for domestic cricketers and the remainder for women and junior cricketers. Is this sum spent enough on the players, who have been the reason in the first place for filling up the boards treasury?


However, all is not gloomy in Indian cricket. BCCI has recently decided that there will be a 100 percent hike in salaries of both international and domestic cricketers. Players like Pujara who don't play shorter formats will also be compensated accordingly.  This happened after India coach Ravi Shastri and captain Virat Kohli both demanded hikes for players, which they felt were long overdue.


The only question is whether the hike is still fair enough for the players when compared to IPL.