Dravid refuses extra Rs 2.5 cr bonus: Report

Rahul Dravid, the departing head coach of Team India, has declined an additional bonus offered by the BCCI, which would have equated his reward to that received by members of India's T20 World Cup-winning playing squad. 

A day after India won the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup with a thrilling seven-run win over South Africa in the final at the Kensington Oval, BCCI Secretary Jay Shah said the team would be rewarded with a whopping cash prize of Rs 125 crore in total.

As per the dsitribution formula, head coach Dravid and all the 15 members of the sqaud were to get Rs 5 crore each while the other support staff including batting coach Vikram Rathour, fielding coach T. Dilip, and bowling coach Paras Mhambrey were to receive Rs 2.5 crore each.

However, according to Hindustan Times report, Dravid refused to take the additional Rs 2.5 crore in his bonus to align it with the reward given to other support staff.

"Rahul wanted the same bonus money (Rs 2.5 crore) as the rest of his support staff (bowling coach Paras Mhambrey, fielding coach T Dilip and batting coach Vikram Rathore). We respect his sentiments," a BCCI source told the newspaper.

All five members of the selection committee -- chairman Ajit Agarkar, Salil Ankola, Subroto Banerjee, Shiv Sundar Das, and S. Sharath -- gets Rs 1 crore each.

This is not the first instance of Dravid taking a stand for equal distribution of rewards. During his tenure as the head coach of India's victorious U-19 World Cup team in 2018, Dravid adopted a stance that differed from the initially proposed remuneration structure.

Initially, it was planned that Dravid would receive Rs 50 lakh, while other members of the support staff were slated to receive Rs. 20 lakh each. Players were to earn Rs. 30 lakh individually, according to the proposed formula.

However, Dravid declined to accept this distribution, prompting the BCCI to revise the allocation percentages and ensure equal rewards for all team members.