Where does equality stand in international cricket?

The Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) recently announced equal match fees for its men and women (international) cricketers. The board's secretary and president of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), Jay Shah, tweeted the decision on Thursday, October 27.

Several active and former cricketers, personnel related to the sport, and the overall audience, of course, reacted well to the move, via different mediums. What makes this more special is that it is a rare one.

Only a few bodies in the cricketing world provide equal remuneration to their international cricketers.

---

Original 9 - Equal Pay Movement: Where it all started

It all started in 1973, when the American tennis legend and winner of 39 major titles, Billie Jean King initiated and powered the 'Original 9' move. King, along with her eight other fellow female tennis players, fought for equal pay for women's tennis players.

She worked hard for women's rights, aided in arranging separate women's tours, and acquired financial support from the sponsors. She was one of the founders and the first president of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) in 1974.

The US Open was the first grand slam to hand the same amount of prize money to its men and women competitors. In 2001 and 2006, the Australian and French Open followed the case.

Finally, in 2007, Wimbledon, the oldest grand slam in the world, started to pay the men's and women's singles winners the same amount of prize money (€2,000,000).

---

Equal Pay: The BCCI joins the movement

India’s men’s and women’s international cricketers will now get INR 15 lakhs for a Test match, INR 6 lakhs for an ODI, and INR 3 lakhs for a T20I. However, these are only match fees; the amount for annual contracts remains unchanged.

Speaking of this year so far, Indian women have performed exceptionally well. The side first won a silver medal at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games; they lost to Australia in the final.

Later, a 3-0 win over England in the ODI series to send off Jhulan Goswami was their best performance in the 50-over format since 2017. The side finally brought back Asia Cup glory earlier this month. Harmanpreet Kaur-led Indian women beat Sri Lanka in the final.

Looking at the contracts, there's an unbelievable gap between the players' annual salaries. To understand clearly, here's a table, explaining the salaries.

Contracts	Men's	Women's
Grade A+	7 Crore	NA
Grade A	5 Crore	50 Lakh
Grade B	3 Crore	30 Lakh
Grade C	1 Crore	10 Lakh

Speaking frankly, Harmanpreet Kaur, the skipper, earns half of what India's Umesh Yadav earns, i.e. 50 lakhs.

However, the board is likely to work on increments in annular contracts. And according to some reports, the BCCI is in talks with a few top Indian women cricketers regarding the issue.

Equal Pay and the World

Just before the BCCI, New Zealand Cricket too announced equal pay for their men and women cricketers; which means the top-ranked White Ferns players will receive a maximum of $163,246 (up from $83,432), while domestic women cricketers may receive $19,146 (up from $3,423).

Apart from this, Cricket Australia (CA) and the England Cricket Board (ECB) showed their interest in the matter.

CA last year injected a huge amount of $1.2 million into the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) and Women's National Cricket League (WNCL) player salaries. And because of the decision, the basic average salaries increased up to $65,000. These domestic salaries were compared to the domestic male cricketers, who earn an average amount of $198,000 a year. Further, match payments differ from these base wages.

This, somehow, didn't affect the international stage in Australia. As stated by CA's CEO Nick Hockley:

"But there's still a gap, there's still a really big gap, as compared to their male counterparts."

Moreover, the ECB announced equal prize money in The Hundred for both men and women this year. The women's champions Oval Invincibles received €150,000, as much as Trent Rockets, the men's champion team.

There was, has been a chasm between the payments of men and women cricketers. But with this speed of development, the 'equal pay' era doesn't seem too far apart. And discussing the BCCI's decision, it's their best stance ever.