Big money in Bengal first division league

The cricket season in Bengal is about to start with the inter club transfers beginning on September 1. It is during this time that clubs spend lakhs of rupees to lure players to sign for them. The current Bengal players and those who have played for India in the recent past demand the maximum amount of money for signing with a particular club. There are basically five clubs in the 37-team first division segment that really shell out the money. These are Mohun Bagan, East Bengal, Tollygunge Agragami, Aryans and Sporting Union.

This time, however, another first division club by the name of Tapan Memorial has suddenly decided to invest money in building up a good team. In fact, they have already approached Ashish Winston Zaidi and Amarjeet Kaypee to play for them. Discussions with both the cricketers are on at present regarding the amount that they will have to be paid.

Players like Devang Gandhi, Lakshmi Ratan Shukla, Utpal Chatterjee, Saba Karim and Arun Lal are all paid between Rs 1,00,000 and Rs 1,75,000. This time, however, Tapan Memorial has approached each of these players with a quoted price of Rs 2,00,000. Despite this offer, the players may not opt to play for a club which has always been in the middle rung amongst the first division teams. For this amount, cricketers usually have to play approximately 25 to 30 matches in a season.

Quite a lot of money flows as the clubs prepare for each season. While the big five mentioned above spend more than Rs 5,00,000 per season, the middle and the lower level clubs in the first division spend as much as Rs 2,00,000. Most of the players in the first division are guaranteed at least a signing amount of Rs 20,000 for playing cricket for three months. In spite of all this, cricket in Bengal still does not improve.