Indian cricketers of yesteryears will benefit from the current riches of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, which decided to extend its pension scheme on a mega scale in Mumbai on Sunday.
The likes of Kapil Dev and Mohinder Amarnath, who led India to the 1983 World Cup triumph, will receive upto Rs 35,000 as monthly pension; it was decided by the Board's working committee, which met in Mumbai.
The committee decided to extend the existing pension scheme, which covered those who played before 1975, to include those who represented India in Tests and one-day internationals till December 31, 1993.
Accordingly, those who have played in 25 Tests or more would be eligible for Rs 35,000 each while those who played in less than 25 Tests would be eligible for Rs. 25,000.
Besides, umpires who stood in more than 25 Tests or one-dayers would receive a pension of Rs 10,000 each.
The Board also decided to set aside a corpus of Rs 50 crore for the development of other sports.
"The BCCI has decided to do something for other games. It was decided that training and coaching, both in India and overseas, of promising under-15 players in other disciplines which are part of Asian Games and Olympics," BCCI president Sharad Pawar said after the meeting.
Among other decisions at the meeting on Sunday, the committee authorised the president to select eight centres to host the 2011 World Cup ties, which India is jointly bidding with Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
The Board also resolved that only players could wear the India caps and not the working staff.
Pawar said the special committee headed by former chief I S Bindra would give suggestions about optimum usage of the Board's funds and that the committee's recommendations on the Talent Research Development Wing and other such matters would be placed before the working committee when it meets next.
The BCCI chief also said that a special committee headed by vice-president Chirayu Amin and comprising Arun Jaitley of the Delhi and Districts Cricket Association, another vice-president Lalit Modi, Bindra and Maharashtra Cricket Association president Ajay Shirke had been formed to come up with proposals to develop the 30 acres land given by the Delhi Development Authority to the Board.
"The committee headed by Chirayu Amin would come up with proposals for the land for which the Board has already paid the DDA Rs 25 lakh", Pawar said.
