Indian women’s cricket team
Women’s Cricket Team vs Men’s Cricket Team: The history that the Indian women’s cricket team has created by winning the World Cup, its echo will be heard for a long time. This victory is not just a trophy, it is a symbol of decades of struggle, patience and determination to prove oneself. Today the whole country is proud of this achievement of its daughters. This victory has taken women’s cricket to a new level, from where the future looks bright. But amidst this glare, it is also important to know how much money and what kind of facilities our women cricketers playing under the world’s richest cricket board (BCCI) get compared to men. Things have changed rapidly in the last few years, but has everything become equal? Let us understand in details.
Huge difference in annual contract
BCCI Adopts two methods for payment to players. The first is the annual contract and the second is the match fee. This is where the biggest difference is clearly visible. Every year BCCI divides players into grades based on performance and seniority. There are four grades for male cricketers: A-Plus, A, B and C. An A-Plus grade player gets Rs 7 crore annually. Whereas for A, B and C grades this amount is Rs 5 crore, Rs 3 crore and Rs 1 crore respectively. This is a fixed amount, which they get throughout the year, no matter how many matches they play.
In contrast, there are currently only three grades for women cricketers – A, B and C. A women player in Grade A gets Rs 50 lakh annually. The salary for Grade-B is Rs 30 lakh and for Grade-C it is Rs 10 lakh. If we compare, the difference between the top grade of the men’s team (7 crores) and the top grade of the women’s team (50 lakhs) is huge. This shows that women cricketers are still far behind men in terms of annual earnings.
equality in match fees
There may be a big difference in the annual contracts, but BCCI took a historic decision in October 2022, which changed the condition and direction of women’s cricket. The board announced that from now on, equal match fees will be paid to male and female players. This was a revolutionary step towards “pay parity”. Under this new rule, both male and female cricketers in the playing eleven get equal fees:
- Test match: ₹15 lakh per match
- One-day (ODI) match: ₹6 lakh per match
- T20 (T20I) matches: ₹3 lakh per match
Players who are not part of the playing eleven, that is, who remain on the reserve bench, get 50 percent of this fee. This one decision gave the message that the importance of the game on the field is equal, whether it is played by men or women.
Hotel and journey are same, but there is still a gap in training and support staff.
There was a time in the 80s when women cricketers did not even get match fees. They used to travel on concessional railway tickets and were accommodated in hostels or halls instead of hotels. The quality of the kit was also not very good. The situation started changing after the merger of women’s cricket with BCCI in 2006. Today, our women champion players also travel by air in business class like the men’s team and are also accommodated in 5-star hotels. This is a big and welcome change.
But this equality of facilities is still incomplete. The real difference is seen in training, rehab and physio support. The men’s team has high-tech training equipment, a large support staff (comprising many experts) and excellent medical facilities on a day-to-day basis. The women’s team is not able to achieve all this at that level yet. In big tournaments the facilities are almost equal, but in regular tournaments there is still a difference. Along with the women’s team, the support staff is also usually small.
Wind changed from WPL, but lagging behind in the race of brand value
Talking about commercial cricket, IPL (Indian Premier League) changed the world of male cricketers, where players earn in crores. The salary of some players goes above Rs 20 crores. The introduction of WPL (Women’s Premier League) is a great step for women. This has given a new platform and good earning opportunity to women cricketers. Salary in WPL has gone from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 3.4 crore. Although, it is still much less than IPL, but it has increased the brand value and sponsorship deals of women players.
Earlier, women cricketers used to get less opportunities for individual endorsements, but after the WPL and now this World Cup victory, it is expected that big companies will invest in them. However, a very small portion (less than 1%) of BCCI’s total budget (approximately ₹12,000 crore in 2023-24) is spent on the development of women’s cricket, a gap that desperately needs to be bridged.