17 October,2011 10:20 AM IST | | Sanjib Guha
Former India all-rounder Yajurvindra Singh, who played Ranji Trophy cricket for Saurashtra apart from Maharashtra, welcomed the Saurashtra Cricket Association's (SCA) gesture to provide a monthly pension to its former players.
Yajurvindra Singh
Those Saurashtra players who have played more than 10 Ranji matches will get Rs 7,000 while others will receive Rs 5,000. Retired BCCI panel umpires will be better off by Rs 5,000 per month.
"It's wonderful gesture and I congratulate SCA for announcing this. This should be followed by the other associations of the BCCI too," said Yajurvindra.
"BCCI had announced their scheme for the Test and first-class cricketers (who have played more than 25 first-class matches), but players who represented the state were overlooked so we decided to assist our players in whatever little way we could," said SCA secretary Niranjan Shah.
"We will only give pensions to players and umpires who have completed 60 years contrary to BCCI's scheme of rewarding all retired players," he clarified.
The SCA has shortlisted 45 such cricketers who will be benefited under this scheme. Those getting pensions from the BCCI or any other association will not be eligible.
Over the years, Saurashtra has fielded star players like Salim Durani, Dilip Doshi and Karsan Ghavri. Their promising young guns include Cheteswar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja.
