Domestic cricketers will be paid directly: Vinod Rai

Committee of Administrators (CoA) chairman Vinod Rai on Monday announced that the domestic cricketers will now be paid directly without any role of the state associations in the matter.

Addressing a press conference here, Rai further claimed that all the pension-related issues of the former cricketers have been taken care of and that they are now more or less settled.

"We are paying the domestic players directly to make sure that they get paid in a due course of time. There is no question of going through the state association or anything like that. Issues regarding pensions of former cricketers have all been taken care of and they are more or less settled," he said.

Speaking on the Ranji status of the state teams, the CoA member confirmed that the domestic teams of Uttarakhand and Pondicherry would be participating in the upcoming season of the Ranji Trophy.

"In the interest of cricketers of Uttarakhand, a consensus committee has been constituted. We have ensured that Uttarakhand will get to play in Ranji in the current year. Pondicherry will also be taken on board as an associate member and they will also play," he said.

He further assured that the newly-conceptualized teams from the north-east would be given proper infrastructure, adding that the committee has taken a large number of initiatives to boost up their abilities.

Reflecting on the recent Supreme Court verdict on the draft constitution filed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India stated that the verdict was quite precise in nature and all the state associations have been asked to follow the guideline within the prescribed time.

"Supreme Court directions gave a timeline for the states to adopt their constitution. That has begun to function. State have been advised to take action to adopt the constitution mirroring the BCCI constitution," Rai said.

"We are hoping that within the timeline prescribed by the court, we will have states conducting their election, nominating their members etc," he added.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had approved the draft constitution submitted by the BCCI with some modifications. The court had also granted full membership to Mumbai Cricket Association, Vidarbha, and Railways.