Breaking: Indian cricket board makes big announcement, providing huge boost to Indian women's cricket

The Indian cricket board faced criticisms for not paying men and women equally unlike New Zealand or other cricket boards. However, Jay Shah, the secretary of the board, decided to put an end to it as he announced an equal match fee for both men and women with a tweet on October 27, Wednesday.

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Although the salary is yet to be addressed, as of now, as the first step, Shah said that the Indian cricket board will focus on the issue as a priority and will now pay equal match-fee for both men and women. 

“I’m pleased to announce Indian cricket board’s first step towards tackling discrimination. We are implementing pay equity policy for our contracted Indian women cricketers. The match fee for both Men and Women Cricketers will be same as we move into a new era of gender equality in Cricket,” Shah tweeted. 

“The Indian Women cricketers will be paid the same match fee as their male counterparts. Test (INR 15 lakhs), ODI (INR 6 lakhs), T20I (INR 3 lakhs). Pay equity was my commitment to our women cricketers and I thank the Apex Council for their support. Jai Hind,” he tweeted further.

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I’m pleased to announce @BCCI’s first step towards tackling discrimination. We are implementing pay equity policy for our contracted @BCCIWomen cricketers. The match fee for both Men and Women Cricketers will be same as we move into a new era of gender equality in 🇮🇳 Cricket. pic.twitter.com/xJLn1hCAtl

— Jay Shah (@JayShah) October 27, 2022

India steps into the new era

Unlike the previous decade, the followers for women’s cricket have increased significantly and Smriti Mandhana, the Indian star batter, has millions of followers across the country as of now. Harmanpreet Kaur, the Indian captain, also joins the likes of Mandhana and Harleen Deol to have a lot of followers in the country. 

Mandhana, who dons jersey number 18, is considered to be the best in Women’s cricket and fans do admit that players who don the ‘18’ jersey rule Indian cricket. Reasonably, Virat Kohli is considered the King of Indian cricket and Harmanpreet, who dons jersey number 7, often gets compared to MS Dhoni. Reasonably, both captained team India while the woman star is still carrying on with her captaincy stint. 

It remains to see if the Indian cricket board would address the salary issue at the earliest. But, as of now, the board has definitely taken the first step towards a must-needed change and Indian cricket might as well be stepping on into a golden era.