The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to pay equally to the contracted male and female cricketers. The Secretary of the board, Jay Shah shared the news in a note put out via Twitter. Shah mentioned that this is the first step toward ending discrimination. The match fees for the male and female cricketers would be the same moving on.
Indian Women’s Cricket Team
The Rise of Women’s Cricket in India
The Indian women’s cricket team has taken giant strides in the last few years. A test match victory in England, playing the finals of the last World T20, winning a silver medal in the recently concluded Commonwealth Games, and winning a limited-overs series in England.
With the rise of franchise cricket all across the world, Indian women cricketers’ involvement in the same has also increased. The new-age Indian cricketers such as Jemimah Rodrigues, Smriti Mandana, Harmanpreet Kaur, Shefali Varma, and Deepti Sharma have made names for themselves through the leagues in England and Australia.
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
The New Age in Women’s Cricket
The Cricket fraternity had been requesting the Indian Cricket Board to start the Women’s Indian Premier League for a few years. The Indian Premier League has effectively changed the face of T20 cricket in the world, a start of a similar tournament for women is bound to do wonders.
Earlier in October, the BCCI proposed a plan for the Women’s Indian Premier League. A total of 22 matches would be played amongst five teams, with each squad comprising 18 players, including a maximum of six overseas players.
The BCCI had experimented with the concept of Women’s IPL in the form of the Women’s T20 Challenge, which was a successful prospect.
Twitter Reacts
The BCCI has received praise for its decision. It is effectively the first big decision to develop women’s cricket in India since Roger Binny, a world cup winner, took over the reins of the Board a few weeks ago.
The women cricketers have thanked the Board for their decision and interest in helping the cause of developing women’s cricket in India.
Truly a red letter day for Women’s Cricket in India with pay parity announced for women and men. Thank you @BCCI and @JayShah
— Harmanpreet Kaur (@ImHarmanpreet) October 27, 2022
This is a historic decision for women’s cricket in India! The pay equity policy along with the WIPL next year, we are ushering into a new era for women's cricket in India. Thank you @JayShah Sir & the @BCCI for making this happen. Really happy today. https://t.co/xOwWAwsxfz
— Mithali Raj (@M_Raj03) October 27, 2022
Fantastic decision by @BCCI to have equal pay for all centrally contracted men & women #TeamIndia cricketers 👏🏻
Shows the progressive mindset of the officials and this will encourage many more to take up the sport! 🇮🇳 @iRogerBinny @JayShah
— Yuvraj Singh (@YUVSTRONG12) October 27, 2022
A huge step towards equal pay for equal work. Thank you BCCI for leading with example 👏🏾
— taapsee pannu (@taapsee) October 27, 2022
