Sports News
BCCI Annual Contracts: Men Grade A+ cricketers get Rs 7 crore, women Grade A cricketers get only Rs 50 lakh
The stand-out feature of the new proposal was the introduction of the A+ category for men's cricket while a category C has been also introduced for Team India Women.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) formulated a new annual contract structure for Indian cricket on Wednesday.
The stand-out feature of the proposal was the introduction of the A+ category for men’s cricket while a category C has been also introduced for Team India Women.
The pay increase for domestic players was equally significant with the match fee increasing by almost 200 percent. As many as 19 women cricketers were included in the new contract.
While the announcement does mark a statement of intent there is still a lot more to be done to reduce the glaring disparity between men and women’s contract.
As far as the men’s cricket team contracts are concerned it is divided into the following categories-
Grade A+: Rs 7 Cr
Grade A: 5 Cr
Grade B: Rs 3 Cr
Grade C: Rs 1 Cr
While the India women’s cricket team contract is divided into three parts –
Grade A: Rs 50 lakh each
Grade B: Rs 30 lakh each
Grade C: Rs 10 lakh each
This reveals the current situation where women are still lagging behind their male counterparts. Hence, according to the latest contract structure, Indian women cricketers in Grade A will earn Rs 50 lakh per annum, which is, in fact, half the amount a lowest paid male cricketer in Grade C (Rs 1 Cr) will get.
Those in Grade B will get 30 lakh each and those in Grade C will get 10 lakh which is less than half their male counterparts.
Players featuring in the Grade A include- Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana. Grade B features the likes of Poonam Yadav and Shiha Pandey among others.
While the likes of Raj and Kaur have witnessed a substantial increase in their paychecks (from Rs 15 lakhs to Rs 50 lakhs) it is nothing compared to the massive hike India opener Shikhar Dhawan has witnessed (From Rs 50 lakh to Rs 7 crore – more than 1300 percent).
Hence, it is still a long way to go before the numbers proposed in the contracts truly bring a significant balance among both the genders.
