U-19 World Cup | BCCI honours Rahul Dravid's request for equal pay; cuts his prize money by 50%
The Indian cricket board has accepted Rahul Dravid’s request for equal pay between the support staff of the U-19 World Cup winning team and cuts his reward by 50%. The BCCI had decided to pay INR 50 lakhs to Dravid while paying the players 30 lakhs and 20 lakhs to the support staff members.
The Indian colts defeated Australia U-19 team in the final to lift the World Cup trophy and to celebrate the moment BCCI had announced monetary rewards for each member of the team management. But the coach of the U-19 team, Dravid didn’t like the idea of special treatment for himself and quietly contacted the BCCI chief executive Rahul Johri and informed about the matter of principle as he felt equal pay for all the members who work hard in the team’s victory.
According to the ESPNcricinfo, Dravid informed Ratnakar Shetty, who is in the charge of women's and Under-19 cricket, about his displeasure and said the board shouldn't show partiality with other members.
CoA chief Vinod Rai confirmed that the former Indian skipper’s request had been acceptedaccepted at a meeting which held this week in Mumbai. The official announcement from the board is still pending where they will inform about the same prize money INR 25 lakhs each including Dravid.Â
"He felt that all the support staff should be adequately compensated, too. So he gave a viewpoint. He (Dravid) said you can reduce my but pay the players and other people, too," Rai told ESPNcricinfo.Â
"Our logic was since he is a senior official and he has been involved with the team [for a long time], so we can't equate him with the junior players. But he talked about principle and so we have acceded to his request and accepted his proposal."
Rai also stated that Dravid had submitted a list of the coaching staff who helped and assisted him in the preparations for the World Cup. Along with Dravid, Paras Mhambrey (bowling coach), Abhay Sharma (fielding coach), Yogesh Parmar (physiotherapist), Anand Date (trainer), Mangesh Gaikwad (masseur), and Devraj Raut (video analyst) worked with the team.