New Delhi: In a historic move, BCCI on Thursday announced equal pay for all contracted men and women Team India cricketers. BCCI secretary Jay Shah took to Twitter to announce the development. “I’m pleased to announce BCCI’s first step towards tackling discrimination. We are implementing a pay equity policy for our contracted women cricketers. The match fee for both Men and Women Cricketers will be the same as we move into a new era of gender equality in Indian Cricket,” Shah tweeted.
The @BCCIWomen cricketers will be paid the same match fee as their male counterparts. Test (INR 15 lakhs), ODI (INR 6 lakhs), T20I (INR 3 lakhs). Pay equity was my commitment to our women cricketers and I thank the Apex Council for their support. Jai Hind 🇮🇳
— Jay Shah (@JayShah) October 27, 2022
He added that Indian women cricketers will be paid the same match fee as their male counterparts. For test cricket match, the fee will be ₹15 lakh, for One Day International (ODI) match ₹6 lakh and for a T20 match ₹3 lakh, respectively.
“The @BCCIWomen cricketers will be paid the same match fee as their male counterparts. Test (INR 15 lakhs), ODI (INR 6 lakhs), T20I (INR 3 lakhs). Pay equity was my commitment to our women cricketers and I thank the Apex Council for their support,” Shah wrote.
It is to be noted that there is a significant pay gap between the match fees of Indian men and women cricketers. New Zealand is the first country to introduce equal pay for women’s and men’s cricketers. The new order was brought in this July.
At that time, New Zealand’s men’s captain Kane Williamson had said: “It’s really important for the current players to build on the legacy of those who have gone before us, and to support tomorrow’s players, both men and women, at all levels.”
Women’s cricket came into focus after India’s spectacular performance in the 2017 Women’s ODI World Cup in England. Though they lost the final, the craze about women’s cricket touched a new high following that.
Women IPL league:
Earlier this month, BCCI announced that it would host a five-team IPL tournament for women next March 2023, immediately after the Women’s T20 World Cup ends in South Africa on February 26.
As per the plan, around 22 matches will be held. Each team will have 18 players, wherein the teams can rope in a maximum of six from overseas.
Though the BCCI is yet to finalise the schedule for the Women’s IPL, as per news reports, the matches are set to be over before the men’s IPL begins, which will be held at the end of March.
The Indian women’s cricket team have enjoyed a rich vein of form in the recent past with multiple successes on the international stage. The side won the silver medal at the Commonwealth Games 2022 and followed it up with a historic ODI series win over England and a record Asia Cup triumph.
While the latest announcement was a huge initiative towards addressing the pay disparity between the players of the two teams, it is only the first step. When it comes to revenue sharing and central contracts, the gap remains massive – both in terms of money and exposure.
Every year, BCCI pays 26 per cent of its annual revenue to the players.
13 per cent of the revenue is given to men’s international team players, 10.3 per cent to domestic cricketers and just 2.7 per cent is earmarked for junior players and women cricketers.
The same is applicable while talking about central contracts.
In a stark contrast, the highest paid women cricketers get a yearly contract worth a bit more than $60,000. To put in simpler terms, one of the highest paid women cricketers in India right now – opener Smriti Mandhana – holds the same contract that Sachin Tendulkar would have had in 2004.
However, things have taken a turn lately. The first Women’s IPL is stated to take place next year and with the match fee disparity getting abolished, Indian cricket seems to be moving towards the right direction at this point.
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