'New era of gender equality in Cricket': BCCI brings match fees of women cricketers at par with men

Making the big announcement, BCCI secretary Jay Shah said the match fees for the contracted senior women cricketers will be the same as their male counterparts as " we move into a new era of gender equality in Cricket."

The decision is being viewed as a landmark decision as it brings the women cricketers in terms of match fees at par with male players of the sport.

"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. The @BCCIWomen 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," Shah's tweet stated.

This comes days after BCCI in its AGM decided that the first season of the women's IPL will be played in 2023.

The interest in Indian woman's cricket has been going up since the team finished runners-up in the 2017 ICC Women's World Cup.

After this, the Indian women's cricket team brought more accolades to the country by reaching the finals in the T20 World Cup in 2020 and also winning the silver medal in the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

New Zealand Cricket Board also took a similar decision earlier this year, bringing the match fees of women's national team and domestic women's players at par with the match fees of men.