DDCA finally settles dues of Virat Kohli after long three-year wait

The controversy-ridden Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) has settled the payments of the likes of Virat Kohli, Virender Sehwag, Shikhar Dhawan and Gautam Gambhir, some of which had been pending for more than three years, Times of India reported on Sunday.

Kohli, who begun his preparations for India’s upcoming tour of the West Indies over the weekend after taking a well-deserved break from cricket following the culmination of the IPL, was owed his match fees for leading the Delhi team in the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy, way back in 2013. An amount of Rs 176,400/- has now been sanctioned to India's Test skipper out of the funds received by the DDCA for hosting matches in the 2016 World T20 and IPL.

The troubled association is looking to clear out the payments of big profile players before turning attention to their regular domestic players who have not been paid their matches for the previous domestic season. Another Indian team regular who has outstandings funds pertaining to him cleared is Dhawan, with the opener set to fetch a sum of Rs 2,37,000/- as fees for playing in the Vijay Hazare trophy in December 2015.

Similarly, Gambhir, the present skipper of the Delhi cricket team, has also been sanctioned an outstanding amount for Rs 4500/- while former skipper and star batsman Virender Sehwag, who left for Haryana in the Ranji Trophy following his differences with the DDCA, has also been compensated with Rs 9000/-.

The BCCI has been at constant loggerheads with the DDCA on several occasions owing to the latter’s failure to produce the association’s balance sheet for the past few years. Faced with the prospect of losing out its hosting rights for the fourth Test against South Africa last year and subsequently the World T20 and IPL matches, the DDCA had submitted its balance sheet for the pending years nad are now hopeful of getting their blocked grants released by the parent body.

"The bills from these big names were lying with the association for years. If there is surplus money in the association, there's no harm in clearing out as much payment as possible. The association can settle its account once the money comes from BCCI," DDCA treasurer Ravinder Manchanda told TOI.

"These payments are made from the profits the DDCA has made by hosting World T20 and IPL matches this year. Since we haven't submitted the balance sheets yet, the BCCI can't sanction the money or the fees. But it was only fair to clear the long pending dues of those who don't play for Delhi so often. Once the grants come from the board, we will clear the fees of the rest of the players," Manchanda added.