Hyderabad: It won't be wrong to suggest that the Indian cricket scene was born only after their victory in the 1983 World Cup in England. Kapil Dev and his devils won the 1983 Prudential Cup at Lord’s, England, on 25th June 1983 changing the face of cricket in India and across the globe.
The underdogs turned the world upside down by beating the invincible West Indies in the finals, proving millions of people wrong.
Several World Cup-winning squad members have admitted that they were treating the trip as a vacation and didn’t think that they would even make it to the semis. However, after their victory against the mighty Windies in their first league match they gradually built confidence and self-belief which resulted in them ultimately winning the coveted trophy.
Astonishingly, when one looks at the salary of the players who played the final at Lord's one finds that there is an enormous difference between the earnings of the salaries in 1983 when compared to the present times.
Recently, a picture of the teamsheet and their earning from an ODI exhibition match played between India and Pakistan at the Nehru Stadium started doing rounds in social media wherein the Indian team after the 1983 World Cup was paid a sum of Rs. 200/day as allowance and Rs. 1500 as match fees per game. In total, the money was Rs 2,100 for each player and the manager.
This amount looks peanuts when compared to how much cricketers get paid nowadays.
BCCI currently offers annual contracts to its players. One of the richest sporting bodies in the world, the Indian cricket board offers four grades -- A+, A, B and C. The lowest annual retainer fee (grade C) is Rs 1 crore. Grade A+ is worth 7 crores while A is 5 crore and B is 3 crore. There are only three players in the A+ category -- Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah. In 1983, Kapil Dev would certainly have qualified in this group. Over and above the annual retainership, players also get match fees and a substantial amount of allowances. For playing an ODI match, every cricketer gets Rs 6 lakh per game. For a T20 international, it's Rs 3 lakh per match and for playing a Test match, a cricketer is richer by 15 lakh.
Even domestic first-class cricketers are well paid these days. They get Rs 35,000 per day for a four-day Ranji Trophy match. All players get a percentage of TV earnings too. On average, a domestic player can earn as much as Rs 3 lakh per game.
Cricket has now turned to become a commercial sport in India with lots of money packed within it. Nowadays, players earn a lot of money due to a lot of aspects ranging from the Indian Premier League to advertisements. But things would have been different had the men in 1983 hadn't been successful.
