The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has recently decided to increase the match fees and daily allowances of all the umpires, match referees, scorers and the video analysts in the domestic cricket. While the former BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah has welcomed the new salary hikes, he has criticized the higher salaries for umpires than the cricketers.

BCCI has recently doubled the match fees and daily allowances of all the umpires, match referees, scorers and the video analysts in the domestic cricket after Saba Karim’s (BCCI’s General Manager for cricket operations) recommendation which has been also approved by the SC-appointed CoA (Committee of Administrators).

In result, the top 20 domestic umpires will now get INR 40,000 per day in the first-class and List A matches while previously they earned INR 20,000 per day. In T20 cricket, the umpires will earn INR 20,000 per day instead of their previous INR 10,000/day salaries.

In the meantime, other domestic umpires will earn INR 30,000 per day instead of their previous salaries of INR 15,000 per day. In T20 cricket, they will earn INR 15,000 per day instead of INR 7,500 per day.

Earlier in this year, BCCI has also raised the per day match fees of the domestic cricketers for which the cricketers will now earn more than the double amount. According to the new match fees, the domestic cricketers will now earn INR 35,000 per day while their previous match fees were INR 10,000 per day. It means their new match fees are lower than the top 20 domestic umpires match fees.

Niranjan Shah has shown the disappointment on the domestic senior players’ salaries as he believes that they deserve more than the umpires.

Shah stated, “Though it is welcomed to have a raise in match fees of umpires and other match officials, but it is indeed shocking and surprising that the recommended match fees of umpires would be higher than domestic senior players, which has been Rs 35000 per day. I fail to understand that how can match fee of umpires be more than players?

“Domestic players are much ignored since last couple of years. Domestic cricket is the most important and reliable platform of getting players for international tournaments. All associations put much efforts to their respective domestic teams for all domestic tournaments of BCCI. But due to reasons unknown to many of us, domestic players are being ignored. Since last domestic season, i.e. 2017-18, each team for Ranji Trophy is getting two less league matches than earlier format, which is considerable financial loss to players.”