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.
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