3 takeaways from the BCCI's India Women contract announcement
19 senior India Women cricketers were awarded a central contract by the Board of Control for Cricket in India for the 2020-21 season. Three price slabs were announced for the October 2020 to September 2021 contracts.
While Shafali Verma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, and Punam Raut were moved up to Grade B, and 17-year-old Richa Ghosh was a new entrant at Grade C, others weren't so fortunate. The list saw itself trimmed to 19, compared to the 22 senior India Women cricketers who were part of the BCCI's central contract list last year.
Full contract list of India Women cricketers for the 2020/21 season
Grade A (INR 50 lakhs): Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Poonam Yadav
Grade B (INR 30 lakhs): Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Deepti Sharma, Punam Raut, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Shafali Verma, Radha Yadav, Shikha Pandey, Taniya Bhatia, Jemimah Rodrigues
Grade C (INR 10 lakhs): Mansi Joshi, Arundhati Reddy, Pooja Vastrakar, Harleen Deol, Priya Punia, Richa Ghosh
Here are three takeaways from the BCCI's contract announcement for India Women cricketers.
#3 Notable names absent from the contract list
There were many notable absentees in the BCCI's list of centrally contracted India Women cricketers.
Batter Veda Krishnamurthy, who recently lost her mother and sister due to COVID-19, now finds herself without a contract after being part of the Grade C bracket last year. Off-spinner Anuja Patil, all-rounder Dayalan Hemalatha and left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht are others who've been snubbed by the BCCI.
Personal tragedy aside, the 28-year-old Krishnamurthy has been part of the side for over nine years now and has played over 120 matches for the country. Patil, also of the same age, has a stellar record in the 50 WT20I matches she's played.
Bisht is reaching the fag end of her career, but she's taken almost 150 wickets for India Women at an exceptional economy rate. Finally, Hemalatha may not have as many caps as the others who were snubbed, but she's only 26 years old and has immense room to grow.
Had the BCCI decided to sacrifice these players in order to usher in new or improved talent, the move would've been understandable. But simply trimming the list of centrally contracted India Women cricketers was a distinctly questionable decision.
#2 Should more women be part of the Grade A bracket?
Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami play only one format at the moment, but their status as two of Indian cricket's biggest legends cannot be questioned.
Given all that they've achieved over the years, there is a strong case to be made for them to be included in the Grade A bracket. Moreover, with the India Women scheduled to play two WTests this year, the duo will get the opportunity to show their worth in the most challenging format of the game.
Raj, the captain of the WTest and WODI sides, is an integral part of the team, as is Goswami. Both players don't have a lot of time left in their respective careers and deserve a hefty paycheck before retiring. Others like Deepti Sharma and Shikha Pandey, who've been mainstays of the India Women side for several years now, may also deserve an upgrade.
It is possible to work around this issue if...
#1 Both pay and number of central contracts must be higher
28 players from the Indian men's cricket team are currently part of the BCCI's central contract list. For context, the list includes four price slabs - A+ (7 crore), A (5 crore), B (3 crore) and C (1 crore).
While it is unrealistic to expect similar numbers for the women, it can certainly be claimed that both pay and the number of centrally contracted cricketers must be higher.
India Women are expected to have a busier cricketing calendar in the coming months, with a highly anticipated all-format tour of England looming large. They might need to avail the services of far more than the 19 players currently on the roster in this pandemic-affected season. And price slab C can easily be made heaftier than the meagre INR 10 lakhs it is now.
The BCCI may not be able to perfectly justify the higher pay with the revenue India Women generate at the moment, but it's safe to say that it's their responsibility to take the team further. And based on the current price slabs, even sustainability as an international cricketer comes under question.