The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday (27 October) announced that the centrally contracted male and female cricketers will get the same amount of match fee across formats. The Indian cricket board’s secretary Jay Shah announced on BCCI’s behalf that the centrally contracted cricketers will get the same amount of match fee going forward irrespective of their gender. Earlier, female cricketers were paid significantly lesser as compared to their male counterparts.
It’s worth mentioning that Indian women’s cricketers used to draw a match fee of INR 20,000 (approx.). Now, they will get INR 15 Lakhs for playing a Test match, INR 6 Lakhs for featuring in an ODI and INR 3 Lakhs for playing a T20I for India.
“I’m pleased to announce @BCCI’s first step towards tackling discrimination. We are implementing pay equity policy for our contracted @BCCIWomen cricketers. The match fee for both Men and Women Cricketers will be same as we move into a new era of gender equality in Cricket,” tweeted Shah on Thursday.
“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,” he added.
Notably, the decision comes right after the appointment of a new president of the Indian cricket board. Roger Binny replaced Sourav Ganguly as BCCI President after getting elected unopposed by the board members.