cricket

Updated: Feb 26, 2018 14:30 IST

Professional footballers often take pay cuts to stay at a certain club or post and avoid being axed by managers and coaches alike.

It’s understandable, given that their careers start swirling down after a certain age; their roles get reduced from the starting XI to the substitute bench and subsequently the reserves and so on.

However, rarely does one hear this about cricket, despite the sport being dubbed as ‘The Gentleman’s Game’. But then, there are individuals like Rahul Dravid.

The former cricketer, now the coach of the Indian under-19 and ‘A’ sides, was rewarded with prize money of Rs. 50 lakh for helping the youngsters lift the World Cup in New Zealand while members of the support staff got Rs. 20 lakh each with the players pocketing Rs. 30 lakh.

However, according to media reports, Dravid wasn’t impressed with disparity in the amounts.

According to The Indian Express, the former India batsman had demanded that all staff members should be paid equally and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have also agreed to the demand. Thus, all members of the under-19 coaching staff will now be paid Rs. 25 lakh, including Dravid.

“From the time the award was announced, Dravid wasn’t happy with him getting much more than others. He informed the Board that he felt that every member had played an equal role in the team winning the World Cup. It surprised many in the BCCI that he was ready to take a cut in his own earning,” a Board member was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

However, the parity in pay wasn’t Dravid’s only demand. He had also urged BCCI to reward members of the team who had been working with the squad for the past one year besides the ones who had travelled to New Zealand.

The list of beneficiaries now include bowling coach Paras Mhambrey, fielding coach Abhay Sharma, physiotherapist Yogesh Parmar, trainer Anand Date, masseur Mangesh Gaikwad, video analyst Devraj Raut, former under-19 coach WV Raman, logistics managers Manuj Sharma and Sumeet Malahapurkar, trainer Amogh Pandit, and the late trainer Rajesh Sawant.

Dravid had hinted at his discomfort of hogging the limelight immediately after returning home from New Zealand. Addressing reporters, Dravid had stated: “It’s a bit embarrassing at times because I tend to get a lot of attention and focus, but it is really about the support staff and the quality of people that we’ve had. I don’t want to mention names but everyone in the support staff has put in a great effort. We do the best for the kids.”