You have seen multiple cricketers walk away with multi-crore deals over the years at an IPL auction. Big name players have struck it rich, while little known players have become household names, with multi-million dollar deals.
But how exactly does the IPL salary structure work? Here’s a quick explainer in 10 points:
– The sum that the player is bought for becomes the player’s salary (taxes are worked out accordingly).
– There are no other claimants for the salary money, the amount is the player’s alone.
– All salaries are per season. So if a player is bought for Rs 10 Crore, he is paid that amount for one season’s appearance. So, in case it’s a three year contract, he will be paid Rs 30 Crore (Rs 10 Cr per season, depending on availability).
– In 2008, when the IPL began, the bid amounts and salaries were in US dollars. At that time the exchange rate was fixed at Rs 40 per US dollar. In 2012, the system was shifted to Indian rupees (INR).
– If a player is bought, say on a three year contract, and then retained for the next season (when there’s no auction coming up), there is a contract extension at the same price as the salary that was being paid earlier (This can differ from case to case in case the team wants to give the player a raise while negotiating contract extension. Usually most players are retained with salary hikes).
– If a player is available for the full season he will be paid the full amount irrespective of the number of matches he has played or been selected for.
– If a player has to pull out due to injury before a season begins the franchise doesn’t have to pay the player. However, if the player is available only for a fixed number of matches in the season and not the full season he is paid on a pro-rata basis, usually along with a 10% retainer.
– If a player wants to be released before his contract expires, he can ask the franchise to do so. If a team chooses to release a player before the contract is up they will have to pay the player for the full term for which he was contracted.
– If a player is injured during the tournament the franchise has to cover the medical expense of treatment.
– Not all franchises pay player salaries in one go. How staggered the salary payment for players is depends on how cash rich the franchise is and how the sponsorship money etc is coming in. Some franchises pay their players the full amount together. Cash rich franchises have been known to hand out cheques to the players at the first team camp before the start of the tournament. Some might decide to pay 50% before the tournament and 50% during the tournament. Some might follow the 15-65-20 formula, whereby they pay players 15% of their salary a week before the tournament starts, 65% of the sum during the tournament and the remaining 20% within a stipulated time after the tournament ends.
