The Board of Control for Cricket in India announced annual contracts for the women’s team cricketers on Wednesday and it once again highlighted the gap in pay scale with their male counterparts.
The Grade A which offers an annual retainer fees of Rs 50 lakh once again comprised of three all-format players – Twenty20 skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, her deputy Smriti Mandhana and leg break bowler Poonam Yadav.
The Grade B has an annual retainer fee of Rs 30 lakh and veterans such as Jhulan Goswami, Mithali Raj and Deepti Sharma are among 10 players in this bracket, with Shafali Verma and Punam Raut earning a promotion from last time around.
The men’s contracts are divided into four categories. While the retainers have been the same from the last cycle, the women’s contracts witnessed a reduction in the total number of players who are part of the list. The highest grade for women’s cricketers has a retainer of Rs 50 lakh while the lowest grade for men’s cricketers is worth Rs 1 crore.
BCCI contracts for men: Kohli, Rohit, Bumrah remain in top bracket; Chahal, Kuldeep moved to grade C
BCCI contracts for women: Shafali Verma moves up to Grade B, number of contracted cricketers slashed
From the archive: Why are India’s women cricketers afraid of asking for more?
BCCI annual contracts
| Period | Grade A+ | Grade A | Grade B | Grade C | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indian women's team | Oct 2020 to Sept 2021 | N/A | Rs 50 lakh | Rs 30 lakh | Rs 10 lakh |
| Indian men's team | Oct 2020 to Sept 2021 | Rs 7 crore | Rs 5 crore | Rs 3 crore | Rs 1 crore |
No of cricketers in each grade of BCCI contract
| # in A | # in B | # in C | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2020-Oct 2021 | Men | 10 | 5 | 10 | 28 |
| Sep 2020-Oct 2021 | Women | 3 | 10 | 6 | 19 |
| Oct 2019-Sep 2020 | Men | 11 | 5 | 8 | 27 |
| Oct 2019-Sep 2020 | Women | 3 | 8 | 11 | 22 |
Comparison of contract retainers by BCCI
| Grade A+ | Grade A | Grade B | Grade c | Total money | Average per cricketer | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2020-Oct 2021 | Men | 210000000 | 500000000 | 150000000 | 100000000 | 960000000 | 34285714 |
| Sep 2020-Oct 2021 | Women | 0 | 15000000 | 30000000 | 6000000 | 51000000 | 2684211 |
| Oct 2019-Sep 2020 | Men | 210000000 | 550000000 | 150000000 | 80000000 | 990000000 | 36666667 |
| Oct 2019-Sep 2020 | Women | 0 | 15000000 | 24000000 | 11000000 | 50000000 | 2272727 |
Here are some reactions to the announcement that once again highlighted the chasm between what the BCCI pays it’s annually contracted cricketers.
#IndianCricket
— The Field (@thefield_in) May 21, 2021
Why a movement towards equal pay for men and women is important
Excerpt from the #EqualHue report by @SnehalPradhan, @kuks and Sidhanta Patnaikhttps://t.co/2aOnDHAmxL
Ind footballers and cricketers aren't employed by same org. So we can't compare their pay.
— Snehal Pradhan #MaskUp (@SnehalPradhan) May 21, 2021
Sindhu earns more than Srikanth cos she wins more. But they have access to equal number and quality of tournaments ( with equal prize money in Super Series)
Just saying. https://t.co/4YVFkNUYJb
List of centrally contracted India Women players whittled down to 19 (Oct 2020-Sep 21) from 22 (Oct 2019-Sep 20).
— Annesha Ghosh (@ghosh_annesha) May 19, 2021
Annual retainers (Grade A: INR 50 lakhs; Grade B: INR 30L; Grade C: INR 10L) remain unchanged.
India were runners-up in the 2020 T20 World Cup (played in Feb-Mar).
‘Let women’s cricket generate as much revenue and interest as men’s cricket. Then they can get more games and money’ ...
— Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee) May 21, 2021
... is a silly argument precisely because it is part of the bcci’s job to ensure women get more opportunities and for their matches to generate more revenue
Fighting for equal pay at the top is important, but what's even more crucial is financial security for the domestic players, and especially women players. They're not contracted and earn peanuts as match fees, in a job with a lifespan of just a few years.
— Mr. Chocolate Hazelnut Spread (@basedIITian) May 20, 2021
1. "Women don't play as many matches, so they don't deserve par salary"
— mahu's thoughts dot blogspot dot com (@originalmiks) May 19, 2021
Women players don't have agency over fixtures - it is up to the BCCI to schedule regular games for them. They don't deserve to be paid peanuts because BCCI could not care less about them playing.
I'm.not advocating equal pay. Expecting Mandhana to get 7crore is, well...
— Sarah Waris (@swaris16) May 19, 2021
But, at least some respect - you think Harmanpreet and Mandhana (in Grade A) are worse than Kuldeep, who is getting paid more?
That's the issue.
#thread
— Rohit Sankar (@imRohit_SN) May 19, 2021
Get this ⬇️
In 2017, Cricket Australia increased their women's cricketer's wages by 125%.
Min&avg pay for men & women in state sides are same.
The women players are given 12 months of paid parental leave (1/3)
BCCI announces packages for India Women.
— Abhishek Mukherjee (@SachinAzharCT) (@ovshake42) May 19, 2021
The usual frugal amount compared to their male counterparts.
Sexism on Indian cricket Twitter will now bifurcate into:
1. Brazen sexism. Women, hence.
2. Sexism in the guise of capitalism. Profits generated, hence.
As always.
Who has asked for same? People just wanted a little respect from the board for the players like Harman or Mithali. 50lacs for the very best, with huge contribution for years to the sport and 1 cr for the one who doesn't even get chances in playing 11. First understand the issue.
— PouLaMi. (@Crictopher17) May 20, 2021
2015:
— Abhay (@ImAbhay3) May 19, 2021
Men with Grade A contracts were paid 1 crore.
Women with Grade A contracts got 15 lacs.
6 years on:
Grade A men: 7 crores
Grade A women: 50 lacs
The women have made it to the finals of 2/3 WCs since then, while the men stand at 0/3.
Does this mean Ekta Bisht is not in India’s plans for the World Cup and only made the squad because Rajeshwari missed out? If so, I feel for her. She’s been superb for India throughout her career. https://t.co/ZL9iRLdBgD
— Ananya Upendran (@a_upendran11) May 19, 2021
I completely agree that men drive sponsorships and women don’t today.
— Yash Lahoti (@YvLahoti) May 20, 2021
There is no comparison and there shouldn’t be. We need to treat both sports as individuals and not combined.
Am sure we can create a model wherein Women’s cricket starts earning from its own.
To add a bit of context, of the 26 per cent of BCCI surplus (excluding IPL) distributed among cricketers: Senior international men get 13 per cent, Senuor domestic men get 10.4, women and junior cricket get 2.6 per cent.
— Amol Karhadkar (@karhacter) May 19, 2021
Yess, 2.6 per cent. Promotion of sport, you see!!!
A Grade C India men's player earns INR 1 Crore. The three players in India women's highest pay grade get only half of it. The Women's team may not fill your coffers, but they have no obligation to it. The onus on increasing their commercial value is responsibility of the BCCI.
— Venkata Krishna B (@venkatatweets) May 19, 2021
The worst defence to justifying the pay scale for contracted Women cricketers is saying 'oh they don't generate enough revenue & BCCI is a professional run organization & not an NGO'.
— Gurkirat Singh Gill (@gurkiratsgill) May 19, 2021
Businesses also need investments, and not just monetary, but of time & effort as well.
+
You all have too much expectations on BCCI to reduce the pay gap. They actually didn't do anything when Indian Women's cricket peaked in terms of broadcasting numbers between 2016-18. During a pandemic struck year, they won't and actually didn't do zilch.
— Tracer Bullet (@ravimaestri) May 19, 2021
It's fair to assume that the BCCI can afford to pay the women more though? Not saying they should all 7Cr starting tomorrow or anything. But surely, the best can be paid more than half of the men's fringe players. Surely?
— Habil Ahmed (@hblahmed) May 20, 2021
A 'Grade C' male cricketer gets twice as much a 'Grade A' female cricketer would. #BCCI #India https://t.co/GPhKSbT72G
— Manasi Pathak (@ThatUnitedLady) May 19, 2021