On International Women’s Day BCCI Contracts for Female Cricketers Fail to Set an Example
Interestingly, this is only the second time BCCI announced contracts for women cricketers. The first time it did was during the 2015-16 season and only 11 female cricketers were handed the contracts.
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) just ahead of the International Women’s Day announced central contracts for its players, including women cricketers. While the contract for men cricketers, which apparently is lucrative, is divided into four categories (A+, A, B & C), women’s contract is limited to just three divisions (A, B & C). But what is deplorable is that the contract for women cricketers looks significantly small when compared to male counterparts. Take this for a sample, a player from Grade C of men’s cricketer's contract takes home INR 1 Crore, which is double than what a women cricketer from Grade A earns. It is worth noticing that the Grade A houses names like Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana. These players have done exceedingly well over the years.
Interestingly, this is only the second time BCCI announced contracts for women cricketers. The first time it did was during the 2015-16 season and only 11 female cricketers were handed the contracts. At that time the contracts were divided into just two categories of INR 15 Lakh and INR 10 Lakh respectively. For 2016-17, BCCI made no announcement regarding the contract of women cricketers. While the contract of male cricketers during this period saw an increase of hundred percent. BCCI Annual Player Contracts Announced: Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami Awarded Top Bracket; Grade C Introduced for Indian Women Team.
If compared to previous contract (15-16), women cricketers have seen a rise of over 200 percent across categories. But not to forget, the increase happens to be after the two seasons, not one.
Men’s contract; previous three seasons:
| Season | Grade A+ | Grade A | Grade B | Grade C |
| 2015-16 | Did not exist | INR 1 Cr | INR 50 Lakh | INR 25 Lakh |
| 2016-17 | Did not exist | INR 2 Cr | INR 1 Cr | INR 50 Lakh |
| 2017-18 | INR 7 Cr | INR 5 Cr | INR 3 Cr | INR 1 Cr |
Women's contract; previous three seasons:
| Season | Grade A | Grade B | Grade C |
| 2015-16 | INR 15 Lakh | INR 10 Lakh | Did not exist |
| 2016-17 | No contract announced | No contract announced | No contract announced |
| 2017-18 | INR 50 Lakh | INR 30 Lakh | INR 10 Lakh |
Taking into account the gap of one season, the contract, at least for Grade A women cricketers, could have been increased by over 500 percent (around INR 1 Cr). And, also given that the Indian women’s team made it to the finals of ICC Women’s World Cup last year.
BCCI, who have enough money in their coffers to be called the richest cricket board in the world, couldn’t have asked for a better timing than International Women’s Day to send out an inspirational message. BCCI has clearly failed to set an example!
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 08, 2018 02:55 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).