Kamal Juneja, a retired first-class umpire played 42 matches for Uttar Pradesh in the 1970s. No longer he gets a cheque from his previous employer, Mohan Meakin, and received the pension of ₹15,000 from BCCI is not enough. That’s why the Indian Cricketer’s Association (ICA) decided to collect funds to help the needy cricketers amid the lockdown.
President of Indian Cricketer’s Association, Ashok Malhotra said: “since we are trying to communicate and collect funds, it has been three days and we are able to collect ₹24 lakh.” The cricket’s player’s body in India-ICA is finding out nearly 25 to 30 cricketers who can be helped with a monthly amount ₹25,000.
While the well-established cricket board of India (BCCI) can easily cope up with the recent crisis, lesser-settled domestic cricketers face a lot of difficulties for the lockdown. Cricketers, who have played fewer than 10 domestic games aren’t able to get benefits from the medical insurance scheme of BCCI, whereas those players who have played less than 25 domestic games also can’t get pension schemes. Moreover, we can say that all state associations are not supporting these cricketers.
Ashok Malhotra said “There are some players who may be hospitalized. Basically we are trying to find out those cricketers who aged more than 60, who are in need. Near about ₹10 lakh of amount has been reserved for them from the fund of ICA and remaining funds can be distributed individually among the needy cricketers.”
Now, many cricketers are staying in foreign countries, a few of them are not even involved in the 1,750 ICA members, but they have shown their helping hands. Some retired cricketers who are able to sing well have hummed some lines, seeking for help from their fellow cricketers. The ICA has planned to invite for contributions till 15th May.
Further, he added “ I am feeling a little bit disheartening because our famous cricketers have not come forward yet to support us and contribute some amount. We have many fantastic players in our country, who have played nearly more than 50, 100 Test matches for our country; they should come forward and should support.”
