Indian cricket men’s team captain Virat Kohli is a self-confessed feminist. In a country like ours, where men dread the ‘F’ word, in fact so much that hearing a celebrity of Kohli’s stature accept the ideology on gender equality is music to our ears. But not everyone around the star cricketer seems to be all for men’s and women’s equal rights. And, here we are talking about the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the cricket administrative body that recently announced the annual contracts. While, it was a rosy picture for men’s cricket team, and on the other hand women’s team had to be content with a morsel piece. Ironically, all these developments happened over the time as we celebrated International Women’s Day, an annual event to raise awareness concerning gender equality and pay parity. On International Women’s Day BCCI Contracts for Female Cricketers Fail to Set an Example.

The BCCI announced a new annual contract structure for Indian cricket on Wednesday. Among the many features, the highlight of the proposal was the introduction of the A+ category for Men’s Cricket Team while a category C has been also introduced for Indian Women’s Team. So, what does it mean in terms of monetary figures? Here’s the men’s cricket team contracts divided into four categories are – Grade A+: Rs 7 Crore, Grade A: 5 Crore, Grade B: Rs 3 Crore and Grade C: Rs 1 Crore. Now, let us take our attention to the India women’s cricket team contract, that is divided into three parts –Grade A: Rs 50 lakh, Grade B: Rs 30 lakh and Grade C: Rs 10 lakh. This gap can be observed with the naked eye, no microscopes needed! BCCI Annual Player Contracts Announced: Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami Awarded Top Bracket; Grade C Introduced for Indian Women Team.

Top female players such as Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana will be making half of Grade C listed male players. India’s best batsman at present, also the captain of men’s team, Virat Kohli with Rs 7 Crore makes fourteen times more than Mithali Raj who makes Rs 50 lakhs! If this is not a textbook example of what gender pay disparity, then we do not know what is. Yes, there is a problem, it has been forever. But has the time arrived to introduce the much-needed change and especially because we have a sort-of right person to lead us the way?

Like mentioned earlier, Virat Kohli is a self-motivated feminist who has been vocal about women’s rights. Time and again, he has credited his wife and mother, important women of his life to shape up his mind. Well, it is time the star batsman to translate his words into action and fight gender pay disparity like a boss. Kohli can take a cue from Indian cricketing legend and present Under-19 and India A teams’ coach, Rahul Dravid who stood his ground to enforce pay equality post Team India’s win at U-19 ICC World Cup 2018 win. Dravid who was paid more than his support coaching staff took a pay cut (from original Rs 50 lakhs to Rs 25 lakhs) so the entire coaching team could be paid well.

Virat Kohli, the man who is not lately taking a wrong step can be the man of the moment, not only Indian cricket but everyone who looks up to him needs. He is the youth icon, the biggest brand ambassador and above all, the captain of Team India. After all, it is not an alien step. Remember how Hollywood actress Emma Stone revealed about her male co-stars to have taken salary cuts in the past so that she could achieve equal pay.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 08, 2018 05:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).