Equal Pay For Indian Men And Women Cricketers In BCCI's "First Step Towards Tackling Discrimination"

The Indian cricket board, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has announced equal match fee for both men and women contracted cricket players of India.

BCCI honorary secretary Jay Shah announced the landmark decision in a tweet. He said the move was BCCI's "first step towards tackling discrimination."

"The match fee for both Men and Women Cricketers will be same as we move into a new era of gender equality," Shah tweeted.

The match fee for Indian Test, One-day International (ODI), and Twenty20 (T20) games is Rs 15 lakh, Rs 6 lakh, and Rs 3 lakh respectively.

"Truly a red letter day for Women’s Cricket in India with pay parity announced for women and men. Thank you @BCCI and @JayShah," Harmanpreet Kaur, the captain of Indian women's cricket team, tweeted.

"This is a historic decision for women’s cricket in India! The pay equity policy along with the WIPL next year, we are ushering into a new era for women's cricket in India," Mithali Raj, the former captain, said in a tweet.

While acknowledging that it's "certainly something to celebrate," former cricketer and now cricket writer Ananya Upendran said in a tweet that she was "waiting for this to filter down to the domestic level."

In January 2020, star Indian cricketer Smriti Mandhana had said that a call for pay parity would be "unfair."

“We need to understand that the revenue we get is through men’s cricket. The day women’s cricket starts earning revenue, I will be the first person to say that we need the same thing," the opener had said then.

Two years later, here we are, at pay parity and the start of even better things to come for women's cricket.

Earlier this year, in July, New Zealand cricket introduced pay parity in match fee between its men and women cricketers on both domestic and international levels.

It was part of a five-year deal struck between New Zealand Cricket, six major associations, and the New Zealand Cricket Players Association.

Cricket Australia has been gradually closing the pay gap and is moving towards equal pay for its men and women cricketers.

India's historic decision to introduce pay parity in cricket match fee comes not long after another significant decision for Indian women cricketers — the women's Indian Premier League (IPL).

The maiden Women's IPL is set to take place in March 2023 after the Women's T20 World Cup in South Africa and before the start of men's IPL. It will feature five teams and 20 league games with teams to play each other twice.