The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has come up with a new idea to make domestic cricket more interesting for the cricketers.

On his official social media account, BCCI secretary Jay Shah revealed the introduction of prize money at various levels of domestic cricket.

Prize money for POTM and POTT in women's and junior cricket

In BCCI’s Domestic Cricket Programme, prize money has been introduced for the Player of the Match and Player of the Tournament in all women’s and junior cricket tournaments. 

SEE ALSO: IPL 2025 retention and mega auction rules revealed

Vijay Hazare and Syed Mushtaq Ali will experience POTM prize money

Moreover, the senior men’s white-ball domestic tournaments, Vijay Hazare and Syed Mushtaq Ali tournaments, will also experience the prize money for the Player of the Match. The Vijay Hazare Trophy is a domestic List A tournament, while the Syed Mushtaq Ali is a domestic T20 competition.

Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024/25 will run from November 23 to December 15, 2024. Meanwhile, Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024/25 will run between December 21, 2024, and January 18, 2025. 

This initiative aims to recognize and reward outstanding performances in the domestic circuit

Jay Shah tweeted, “We are introducing prize money for the Player of the Match and Player of the Tournament in all Women’s and Junior Cricket tournaments under our Domestic Cricket Programme. Additionally, prize money will be awarded for the Player of the Match in the Vijay Hazare and Syed Mushtaq Ali tournaments for Senior Men. This initiative aims to recognize and reward outstanding performances in the domestic circuit. A heartfelt thank you to the Apex Council for their unwavering support in this endeavour. Together, we are fostering a more rewarding environment for our cricketers. Jai Hind”

We are introducing prize money for the Player of the Match and Player of the Tournament in all Women’s and Junior Cricket tournaments under our Domestic Cricket Programme. Additionally, prize money will be awarded for the Player of the Match in the Vijay Hazare and Syed Mushtaq…

— Jay Shah (@JayShah) August 26, 2024

Domestic cricket is an important part of the growth and success of a cricket team at the international level. Indian domestic cricket has played a huge role in the sustainable development of Indian cricket. 

The BCCI has always tried to make domestic cricket better in various ways. Now, the BCCI has introduced the prize money for the best cricketers of a match in Indian domestic cricket.  

Legendary Indian cricketer, former Indian captain, and T20 World Cup-winning former Indian head coach Rahul Dravid recently opened up why India is extremely powerful in cricket. 

On Sunday (September 8), Rahul Dravid was present in the 50-year celebration of Mount Joy Cricket Club. 

Talking about the present Indian cricket status, Dravid credited the Indian cricket talent acquisition system. 

Dravid said, according to the PTI report, "If you look at Indian cricket today, Indian cricket is extremely strong, it's extremely powerful. One of the big reasons for that is that talent comes from everywhere, from all over the country."

Talking about this, Dravid further went through the example of Indian cricket’s previous generations.  

Dravid added, "If you go back to the time of, say, GR Vishwanath or even when I was starting out, most of the talent came from the big cities or a few states. Even if there were talented boys in smaller places, they had to come to the big cities to play cricket. But today I think you see in Indian cricket that boys are coming from everywhere."

WATCH: 'So This is Where the IPL is Won' - Rahul Dravid joins Rajastan Royals, pranks the biggest fan

You just look at the standard of the Ranji Trophy: Ranji Trophy

Dravid also praised the present standard of the Ranji Trophy, India’s most important first-class cricket tournament. 

Dravid claimed, "You just look at the standard of the Ranji Trophy. In the old days when you played in the South Zone, other than playing Hyderabad or Tamil Nadu, I think it is fair to say, without being disrespectful, that a lot of other teams you could take it not for granted but you could certainly take it a little bit more lightly.

"I don't think there is any team in the South Zone today that you can walk in and say you will beat comfortably."

We need clubs to be strong: Rahul Dravid

Club cricket is an important part of Indian cricket. Indian domestic cricket teams generally get the cricketing talents from the club cricket. Dravid feels that strong club cricket is important for the development of Indian cricket. 

Dravid said, "We need clubs to be strong. We need cricket not to be concentrated in the hands of a few people. We need cricket to be egalitarian, we need it to be all over the place. You cannot have talent or facilities concentrated only in one or two places. To get the best out of talent, we need to ensure that young boys and girls are getting access to good infrastructure in every part."

Dravid also revisited his early cricket days, where he learnt the game more from the seniors’ talks.

The wall of Indian cricket said, "After the practice, HAL [Hindustan Aeronautics Limited] would give us two eggs and one small glass of milk. I would always stay back for that glass of milk and those eggs. Not because I wanted the milk and eggs. But because I wanted to sit and listen to the likes of BK Kumar or Nandan talking about cricket. And it used to be great fun to listen to them and learn so much from them."

Recently, Dravid successfully ended his journey as the head coach of the Indian men’s national cricket team. Under his coaching, India won their second T20 World Cup trophy after winning the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 trophy in the West Indies and United States. Last year, the Indian team finished as the runners-up in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 at home. 

Just a few days ago, Dravid officially returned to the Indian Premier League team Rajasthan Royals as a head coach. He was a key man for the Rajasthan Royals between 2011 and 2015. He led the team in 2012 and 2013, where the Dravid-led Rajasthan Royals finished as the runners-up in the Champions League T20 2013. 

Later, in the IPL 2014 and 2015, Dravid worked as a mentor of Rajasthan Royals.