In what should be good news for the future of Women’s Cricket in India, the Board of Control for Cricket in India have made an official declaration on Monday, the 22nd of August, saying it would pay the female cricketers from the Indian National Women’s team and the Indian under-19s team equal allowances as it does to men.
The official statement released by the BCCI earlier this week read thus – “The daily allowance for the India Under-19 women team and senior India women team was increased and fixed at par with the senior India men team. All of them will get 125 USD per day on international tours and the equivalent of 100 USD in home series.”
On the word of a report published in The Indian Express, the decision to offer a hike in the salary was unanimously taken by BCCI’s core members, headed by its President, Anurag Thakur. Besides passing the annual budget for the year 2016-17, the committee also gave consent to the audited statement for the previous financial year.
Among other primary commitments, the committee also ratified the proposed expenditure for setting up an indoor cricket academy in Nagaland and Meghalaya and the overheads for the ground preparation and equipment.
Also read: The story of Prasidh Krishna: Groomed in Australia, a fast bowler's dream takes flight
It seems that the BCCI is leaving no stone unturned to bring the women’s game on an equal footing with their male peers. Very recently in June this year, The BCCI women’s cricket committee announced that female cricketers could take part in the foreign leagues in Australia and England. This was followed by another empowering news about cricketer Harmanpreet Kaur becoming India’s first women cricketer to make a deal with an overseas T20 franchise.
You can watch the 27-year-old play for the Sydney Thunder in the 2016-2017 season of the Women’s Big Bash League later this year. Besides, talks have also been afloat about a domestic women’s T20 league to be organized in India.
With the recently concluded Rio 2016 having been all about the women’s spectacle, and the BCCI’s initiatives to level the game of cricket for both the genders, we can now expect a small beginning to end the long debated topic of gender inequality in the country, in the sports ecosystem, at least.
Brand-new app in a brand-new avatar! Download CricRocket for fast cricket scores, rocket flicks, super notifications and much more! 🚀☄️
