Women cricketers’ wait for a pay hike just got longer

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 14

India’s women cricketers will have to wait for some more time to get a well-deserved hike in their match fee and annual contracts with the Indian cricket board (BCCI). The meeting of the board’s Finance Committee, which was convened today in New Delhi to revise the remunerations of the women cricketers and domestic cricketers, ended abruptly after committee chairman Jyotiraditya Scindia walked out in a huff. He was reportedly annoyed by the lack of clarity over the committee’s role in deciding the matter in the absence of any clear instructions from the Committee of Administrators (CoA).

Scindia was particularly upset with BCCI CEO Rahul Johri and CFO Santosh Rangnekar as the two failed to take directions from CoA chairman Vinod Rai on how the committee was supposed to function and decide the issue at hand. Since Johri is acting as a de-facto communicator between BCCI and CoA, Scindia had expected him to set the agenda of the meeting, based on his talks with the CoA chairman. According to sources, Johri told Scindia that he hadn’t held any discussion with CoA in this regard, leaving the Congress heavyweight enraged. “The chairman and other officials had come prepared to approve the hike, but since there wasn’t any instruction from CoA on how to go about it, the meeting ended abruptly,” a BCCI office-bearer told The Tribune. “The committee wanted to understand from Johri and Rangnekar whether it could take a decision independently. But both said they didn’t know. Johri was representing CoA in this meeting, so he should have come with some instructions from CoA chief. What if the committee took a decision and CoA rejected it? For every financial decision, we need CoA’s prior approval.” It has been learnt that CoA will define the committee’s role during its meeting here on Saturday.

Windfall guaranteed 

It’s more or less certain that the core group of women cricketers are in for a financial windfall, with the board agreeing in principle to substantially increase their match fees and central contracts. Currently, the Indian women cricketers get Rs 1  lakh per game. “This is set to change with the committee likely to double the amount. Also, a substantial revision in central contracts is also on the cards,” said another official. At present, the board gives Rs 15 lakh annually to each Grade A player and Rs 10 lakh to each Grade B player.

The real problem, however, lies at the domestic level, where a woman cricketer gets only Rs 3,300 per match. ”The amount could be brought to somewhere between Rs 20,000-25,000. Let’s wait for some time,” the official added. The Ranji Trophy cricketers could also see their match fees rise from Rs 40,000 to Rs 80,000.