A number of former India greats have lauded the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for their announcement of equal match fees for contracted female and male cricketers. The BCCI said that the women cricketers will now be earning the same match fees as their male counterparts.
“The female cricketers will be paid the same match fee as their male counterparts. Test ( ₹15 lakhs), ODI ( ₹6 lakhs), T20I ( ₹3 lakhs). This is a landmark decision as we enter a new era in India Cricket. I would like to thank my colleagues in the BCCI Apex Council,” said BCCI secretary Jay Shah in a statement. Earlier, the women players received ₹1 lakh each for ODIs and T20Is while the match fee for a Test match was ₹4 lakh.
Leading the tributes was India cricket great Sachin Tendulkar. “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. Very happy with the decision taken by @BCCI and brilliant to see India paving the way forward,” he said.
Former Indian women’s captain Mithali Raj called the pay announcement a “historic decision for women’s cricket in India”.
A number of other former and current players also lauded the BCCI for the move as well.
Match fees are however separate from annual pay packets, where there are enormous differences between what Indian men and their women counterparts earn. Men play significantly more matches every year than the women and thus, they will continue to earn earn considerably more overall.
In July New Zealand’s women cricketers similarly won the right to the same match fees as men. Australia’s women cricketers last year got a pay rise but Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley admitted there was still a “really big gap” compared to their male colleagues.
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