The BCCI have announced a new incentive scheme for the India men’s Test team, revealing a rewards structure that will be an addition to a player’s match fees.

What is the Test incentive scheme?

In a social media announcement that was confirmed to presenter Harsha Bhogle at the India-England post-series ceremony, BCCI secretary Jay Shah unveiled the ‘Test cricket incentive scheme’ with the aim of “providing financial growth and stability to our esteemed athletes”.

The scheme, which will retroactively commence from the 2022/23 season, has been divided into three brackets, based on the number of appearances made in the said time period.

First bracket

For those playing more than 75 per cent of India’s matches, a playing incentive of INR 45 lakh per match and a non-playing XI incentive of INR 22.5 lakh per match would be provided.

I am pleased to announce the initiation of the 'Test Cricket Incentive Scheme' for Senior Men, a step aimed at providing financial growth and stability to our esteemed athletes. Commencing from the 2022-23 season, the 'Test Cricket Incentive Scheme' will serve as an additional… pic.twitter.com/Rf86sAnmuk

— Jay Shah (@JayShah) March 9, 2024

Second bracket

For those playing more than 50 per cent of India’s Test matches, each member of the playing XI will get them INR 30 lakh per match and 15 lakh per match for non-XI squad players.

Third bracket

For those playing less than 50 per cent of India’s Tests, the scheme won’t be in effect.

That series winning feeling 😃#TeamIndia 🇮🇳 complete a 4⃣-1⃣ series victory with a remarkable win 👏👏

Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/OwZ4YNua1o#INDvENG | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/vkfQz5A2hy

— BCCI (@BCCI) March 9, 2024

Bonus on top of match fees

The incentive scheme will be providing bonus to players on top of their current match fees.

Just last month, the BCCI announced new central contracts for India’s players, which also partially works on a slab system based on the number of matches played in the contracted year.

The match fees in the current cycle is set at INR 15 lakh.

Who are the current contracted players?

Grade A+

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja

Grade A

R Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya.

Grade B

Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Grade C

Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Ruturaj Gaekwad, Shardul Thakur, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Jitesh Sharma, Washington Sundar, Mukesh Kumar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, KS Bharat, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Rajat Patidar.

Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan will also fall under Grade C on account of playing the Dharamshala Test.

Recently, Jay Shah had also announced that playing domestic red-ball cricket will become mandatory for all centrally contracted players.