Women’s Cricket Team Fee Hike: Mithali, Jhulan to Get Rs 50 Lakh

The BCCI has included a new category in the revised pay structure for women cricketers.

The BCCI announced a new contract system for international and domestic cricketers on Wednesday. While players in the highest grade in the senior men’s contract (Grade A+) will be paid Rs 7 crore, the highest paid women cricketers (Grade A) will receive Rs 50 lakh. However, the salaries of the Grade A women players have increased tremendously.

Earlier, the women’s cricketers were put into two contracts – Grade A and Grade B. The cricketers in Grade A earned Rs 15 lakh and in Grade B, the players earned Rs 10 lakh.

But, in the new contract system, the BCCI has included a new Grade.

In the revised system, the Grade A players will earn Rs 50 lakh, Grade B players will earn Rs 30 lakh and Grade C players will earn Rs 10 lakh.

Grade A Cricketers

Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana.

Grade B Cricketers

Poonam Yadav, Veda Krishnamurthy, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Ekta Bisht, Shikha Pandey and Deepti Sharma.

Grade C Cricketers

Mansi Joshi, Anuja Patil, Mona Meshram, Nuzhat Parveen, Sushma Verma, Punam Raut, Jemimah Rodrigues, Pooja Vastrakar and Taniya Bhatia.

Domestic Match Fee – 200 Percent Hike

The match fee of the domestic players – men and women – have been increased by 200 percent.

The senior women’s players who are part of the playing eleven will receive Rs 12,500 per day. The U-23 and junior cricketers will receive Rs 5,500 each.

While the senior domestic men’s players who are part of the playing eleven will receive Rs 35,000 per day. The U-23, U-19 and U-16 players will earn Rs 17,500, 10,500 and 3,500 respectively.

Reason Behind the Big Difference

There is a stark difference between the salaries earned by men and women cricketers as women cricketers don’t play as much as men. After the World Cup final in July 2017, the Indian women’s cricket team played its first match in February 2018.

Further, not all women’s matches are telecast on television, therefore women’s cricket does not generate much revenue compared to men’s cricket.

(Hey there, lady! What makes you laugh? Do you laugh at sexism, patriarchy, and misogyny? Do 'sanskaari' stereotypes crack you up? This Women's Day, join The Quint's Ab Laugh Naari campaign. Pick up that beer, say cheers, and send us photographs or videos of you laughing out loud at [e-mail].)