After witnessing their successful campaign in the ICC Women's World Cup 2017, everyone is asking how much the Indian women's cricket team actually earns annually,. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has indulged in serious discussions over the matter.
The most pleasing part is that the Indian cricket board is actually contemplating how much hike in salaries the players actually deserve. That is a welcome change in itself.
Watch live: Govt of India felicitates the India women's cricket team
Say what you may, the disparity in the monetary rewards between the India men's cricket team and the women in blue, however, will still continue. Equality, over here, seems to be a distant dream.
Even if Mithali Raj and team had managed to win the final of the Women's Cricket World Cup 2017 against England, the dream of watching both teams earning the same amount would have been impossible.
As of now, the talks are on about possibly increasing the monetary rewards the team were earlier promised by the BCCI Committee of Administrators. Mithali Raj and rest of the Women in Blue army were set to pocket Rs 50 lakh each by the Indian cricket board.
However, in the face of a backlash from the general cricket fans, the state units have realised that the rewards should definitely be increased.
"I will propose that the cash award should be hiked to Rs 60 lakh for the players and Rs 30 lakh for the support staff. The girls have made us proud and they should rewarded adequately," the Press Trust of India quoted a BCCI state unit representative as saying on Wednesday.
"I think no one should have any objection if they are being paid more. If one can recall after the India vs Australia series, played earlier this year ended, the COA had announced a cash award of Rs 50 lakh for the Indian men's team.
"The general body then decided to increase it to Rs 1 crore per player," the source added.
Coming to player salaries, the women's team cricketers clearly don't even reach that margin of money their male counterparts earn. Let's have a look:
Current players' salary slab (annual retainership fee):
| India men's cricket team | India women's cricket team | |
| Grade A salary | Rs 2 crore | Rs 15 lakh |
| Grade B salary | Rs 1 crore | Rs 10 lakh |
| Grade C salary | Rs 50 lakh | Undisclosed |
Notable India women's team players with Grade A contracts: Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Harmanpreet Kaur
Grade B contracts: Smriti Mandhana, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Veda Krishnamurthy, Punam Raut
Notable India men's team players with Grade A contracts: Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, R Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, M Vijay
Grade B contracts: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Wriddhiman Saha, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuvraj Singh
Grade C contracts: Shikhar Dhawan, Rayudu, Amit Mishra, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel, Karun Nair, Hardik Pandya, Ashish Nehra, Kedar, Chahal, Parthiv, Jayant, Mandeep, Dhawal, Shardul, Rishabh Pant
