Equal match fee for men, women players

PTI

New Delhi, October 27

In a landmark decision, the BCCI on Thursday announced equal match fee for its centrally contracted female and male players in a bid to promote gender equality in the country’s most popular sport.

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As per the newly introduced system, the Indian women cricketers will now receive Rs 15 lakh per Test, Rs 6 lakh per ODI and Rs 3 lakh per T20I, the same as their male counterparts. Earlier, the women players received Rs 1 lakh each for ODIs and T20Is while the match fee for a Test match was Rs 4 lakh. The decision was taken at the BCCI Apex Council emergent meeting.

Earlier this year, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) had struck a deal with the country’s players’ association, which enabled the women cricketers to earn as much as the male players, while Cricket Australia (CA) was also working to do away with gender disparity. India thus became only the second country in international cricket to implement equal pay.

BCCI president Roger Binny said, “This decision sets the platform to grow and develop cricket. I believe this is a significant step forward for women’s cricket and the game overall.” BCCI secretary Jay Shah said pay equity was an important step towards tackling discrimination. “This is a landmark decision as we enter a new era in India Cricket. I would like to thank my colleagues in the BCCI Apex Council,” he said. In the last two years, which included the shutdown brought about by Covid-19, the India men’s team played 21 Tests while in the same period, the women’s side featured in only two one-off Tests on the tour of England and Australia, respectively.

The announcement comes days after IPL chairman Arun Dhumal, who served as the board’s treasurer in the last dispensation, said the BCCI treasury had increased by nearly Rs 6,000 crore over the last three years.

“It’s a historic move. It’s a new dawn for women’s cricket. Things were already moving ahead. WIPL together with pay equity policy are steps to get women’s cricket to where men’s cricket is today,” the legendary Mithali Raj said.

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