Sachin Tendulkar earns most of his money through endorsements

Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary SK Nair confirmed signing of the contracts had been deferred.

He said: "We want to ensure everything is in order and no-one feels bad after the contracts are signed."

Some players are said to be concerned at the grading system which was to be determined by a screening committee.

They were set to be graded in three tiers with the top players getting 6m rupees (�71,600) per year and the middle group earning just half that.

The lower tier would earn �17,900 a year but all contracted players will also get fees for individual matches.

Indian cricketers were until now paid only individual match fees.

A committee comprising the BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya, coach John Wright and chairman of selectors Syed Kirmani were on the screening committee who was set to decide who goes into which category.

But some players are said to be concerned at the subjectiveness of the committee's decision.

A core of senior batsmen - Tendulkar, captain Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag, plus Kumble - were likely to go into the top tier.

The contracts were set to be offered only to those who had played a minimum of three Tests or 10 one-day internationals.

Those who do not have contracts would have remained eligible for international cricket but would only have match fees.