Mumbai, May 26 (IANS): Former India cricketer Rohan Gavaskar on Wednesday demanded that state cricket associations offer annual contracts to their players, like the Indian cricket board sign players for the national teams.

"All state associations should have annual contracts with their players like the BCCI [Board of Control for Cricket in India] does with the Indian team. A, B, C categories. If state contracts are not there then it's impossible to make payments to domestic players in such a situation," the son of legendary Sunil Gavaskar said in a series of tweets.

The BCCI offers annual retainership to male players divided into four categories.

Indicating that a contract structure would take care of several grey areas, Rohan, who played 11 ODIs and two IPL games in 2010, asked: "How does one determine who would have played the entire season? Could some senior players have been dropped midway? What about the youngsters who may have made their debuts? Will they not get anything? What happens to the white-ball specialists? The red-ball specialists?"

The 45-year-old former player, who had a long stint with Bengal cricket, tweeted: "The state associations need to look after their players. The domestic players are the ones who really keep the game going. They have to be taken care of. Start annual contracts for them."