Cricket - India's women to receive same national appearance fees as men

NEW DELHI: India's men and women cricket teams will be paid the same appearance fees to represent their country, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Secretary Jay Shah said on Thursday.

The agreement will see women's players at international level receive the same match fees as men across all formats - 1,500,000 rupees ($18,225) for tests, 600,000 rupees for one-day internationals and 300,000 for Twenty20 internationals.

"We are implementing pay equity policy for our contracted BCCI women cricketers," Shah wrote in a post on Twitter.

"The match fee for both men and women cricketers will be same as we move into a new era of gender equality in Indian cricket."

Indian women's cricketers currently earn 400,000 Indian rupees for test appearances and 100,000 for T20s and ODIs, and also play less cricket than their male counterparts.

Shah did not say whether there would be changes to the contract system for women.

Under their current annual contracts, women cricketers in the highest bracket earn 5 million rupees, while Grade B players take home 3 million and Grade C, 1 million.

Men in the Grade A+ bracket are paid 70 million, with those in Grades A, B and C taking home 50 million, 30 million and 10 million respectively, meaning the lowest graded male cricketers still earn twice as much as top-tier women cricketers.

India's women's team is ranked fourth in both the ODI and T20I rankings and beat Sri Lanka in the final of the Asia Cup this month to claim a seventh title.

Former India women team captain Mithali Raj hailed the announcement on Twitter as "historic".

"The pay equity policy along with the (Women's Indian Premier League) next year, we are ushering a new era for women's cricket in India," Raj wrote.

In July, New Zealand Cricket and the country's players' association signed a five-year deal that will see male and female cricketers receive equal pay.

In 2017, Cricket Australia gave contracted women the same base hourly pay rate as men in a five-year collective bargaining agreement.

Earlier this year, the BCCI said a fully fledged women's IPL could begin as early as next year.