The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) has decided to implement annual contracts for its players, effective from the 2026-2027 season onwards. The MCA has decided to introduce Grades A, B, and C, where players will be remunerated and the proposal was passed during the recent Apex Council meeting. Grade A players will be paid between 12 lakh to 20 lakh per annum, Grade B cricketers will be paid between 8 lakh to 12 lakh, while Grade C players will get 8 lakh rupees. “We had earlier promised that MCA will bring up the contract system, and we have finalised it in the last Apex Council meeting. A lot of thought has gone into it, and we have tried to cover each area. All players don’t get the opportunity to play in the IPL. This contract will help many players of today’s time who play all formats of the game for Mumbai,” MCA President Ajinkya Naik said. The MCA has become the first association to have a contract system for its players. However, the association has also kept certain guidelines for players who can avail the contract. The player should be registered with MCA and should meet the minimum fitness requirement set by the association. The salary brackets as per MCA’s grades Players should not have represented India in any format in the past two seasons. Players should not have been selected by an IPL team in the past two seasons. The player has to be recommended by the selection committee. Many players who represent Mumbai and have been doing well are not part of any IPL team. To offer them some stability, the MCA has decided to introduce a new grade structure. In 2024, the association had decided to pay its Ranji Trophy cricketers match fees on par with what they get from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Match fees paid by BCCI are between Rs 40,000 and Rs 60,000 per day, depending on the number of games a cricketer has played. The MCA will match this, which means a Mumbai player will get fees from the BCCI as well as the state association.
EXCLUSIVE: MCA becomes first state association to introduce player contract system from 2026-27 domestic season
