Historic decision, red-letter day – BCCI’s pay equity decision wins hearts of Smriti Irani, Sachin Tendulkar, Mithali Raj and more

• BCCI today announced that its centrally-contracted male and female cricketers will get equal match fees, ending the gender pay gap.
  
• Accordingly, women cricketers will now earn ₹15 lakh per Test, ₹6 lakh per ODI, and ₹3 lakh per T20I match.
  
• The decision has been praised by the likes of Union Minister Smriti Irani, former Indian women’s cricket team captain Mithali Raj, current captain Harmanpreet Kaur, and other male cricketers.
  

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) today announced that centrally-contracted women and men cricketers will get equal match fees. The board’s decision has won praise from Union Minister Smriti Irani, former Indian women’s team captain Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, and others.

According to the BCCI's announcement, centrally-contracted women cricketers will now earn ₹15 lakh per Test, ₹6 lakh per One Day International (ODI), and ₹3 lakh per T20 International (T20I) match.

Earlier, the match fee was limited to ₹4 lakh per Test, and ₹1 lakh each for ODIs and T20Is.

The pay equity announcement won BCCI praises from all quarters, with Union Minister Smriti Irani calling it a welcome step.


Former Indian women’s cricket team captain Mithali Raj, who is also the leading scorer in women’s international cricket, called it a historic decision.



Harmanpreet Kaur, the present captain of the women’s team, also welcomed the decision, calling it a “red letter day” for women’s cricket in India.




Former and current Indian men’s cricket team players also chimed in, including Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Suresh Raina, and Cheteshwar Pujara.

“Cricket has been an equalizer in many ways. This is a welcome step towards gender equality in the game and erasing discrimination from the sport,” said Sachin Tendulkar.

Former fast bowler, Harbhajan Singh also believes that this decision can bring in more participation. “Happy to know that @BCCI has taken the decision of pay equity policy for sportspersons in cricket. BCCI has set a standard for other sports bodies. It will encourage greater participation of women in the game. A historic milestone indeed,” he said in a tweet.

BCCI joins New Zealand Cricket board in pay parity for women and men cricketers

With its decision today, BCCI has joined the New Zealand Cricket (NZC) board in announcing pay parity for women and men cricketers.

Earlier this year, NZC struck a deal with the players’ association to announce that its women cricketers will earn as much as men cricketers, allowing them to earn from NZ$575 for domestic T20s, to NZ$10,250 for Test matches.

Last year, Cricket Australia announced wage hikes for women cricketers, but the gender pay gap still exists there too.

SEE ALSO:

Amid startup funding crunch, Udaan raises $120 million and plans IPO after a year

Q2 corporate earnings report: Banks perform well, moderate growth in FMCG, auto

JioMart on WhatsApp is a big opportunity for paid messaging market: Zuckerberg