As the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) kitty swelling every day, they haven’t forgotten those who missed out on the cricket boom. At the end of the working committee meeting here today, the former players were promised a slice of pie with a hike in their pension amount.

And showing that the support to Indian cricket’s senior citizens wasn’t just confined to providing them financial security, BCCI president Sharad Pawar acted swiftly upon former skipper Sunil Gavaskar’s complaint about the national team’s support staff sporting the India caps.

So, as Ian Frazer’s days of wearing the India cap seem to be over, the committee also decided to extend the existing pension scheme, which covered those who played before 1975, to include those who represented India in Tests till December 31, 1993. Pawar informed that those ‘‘those who have played in 25 Tests or more would be eligible for Rs. 35,000 per month each while those who played in less than 25 Tests would be eligible for Rs. 25,000.’’

The decision comes in the wake of BCCI’s new regime’s view of keeping the former players — specially those who played for India in the 80s and 90s and just missed out on the monetary benefits of the modern game — in the fold. Just last month the BCCI had brought together former players like Kapil Dev, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, Srinivas Venkatraghavan and Navjot Singh Sidhu on the same platform through a meeting of the Optimum Utilisation of Resources Committee (OURC). Besides, many of these players are at important positions in BCCI various other committees.

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