Cricket has always been an expensive sport to play. In India, female cricketers are at a disadvantage to their male counterparts because, while they must spend the same amount of money to improve their skills, they earn a fraction of what men do and have less options for earning money through cricket.Given these constraints, sticking to cricket past a certain age is a challenge.
Soon after the BCCI announced its central contracts for women's cricketers for the 2021-22 season, a controversy erupted over the board's pay gap with men's cricketers.
In our situation, the Australian women's cricket team receives the highest pay. And keep in mind that the Australian women's team receives the same salary as the men's team. Their women's side, on the other hand, has won both the T20 and 50-over World Cups. So, first and foremost, let's compete with our own gender."
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"And I think it's fantastic that Australian women are paid similarly to their male counterparts. And this suggests that Indian women should be paid fairly, but the reason we don't is that we haven't won a World Cup."
Three times the Indian women's cricket team has failed to win the World Cup trophy. For the first time this year, the women's team reached the T20 World Cup final, but were defeated by Australia in front of a record crowd at the MCG. They've finished second twice in the 50-over format, losing to England in 2017 and Australia in 2015.
Australia has won the 50-over World Cup more times than any other nation, with victories in 1978, 1982, 1988, 1997, 2005, and 2013. They've even won the T20 World Cup five times.
However, Anjum said the day Indian women win the World Cup, everything will change for them.She said, ”this 50 lakh could get converted to 2 crores. So, it is unfair to demand."
On women's IPL
Mithali Raj, India's women's ODI captain, recently urged the BCCI to hold a women's IPL next year, saying the board should not "wait forever" and that the tournament should begin on a "smaller scale" at first.
Anjum said that she supports every tournament or series that aids the advancement of female athletes. "The reason we're talking about the IPL is because the women's team has consistently performed well at the international level." So, whether it's an IPL or some other international series or tournament, I'm all for it as long as it helps the team progress. The intention is to play more matches.
Women's cricket has grown leaps and bounds over the last few years, especially in India. Whether the women's players' wages should be decided on the basis of the revenue they generate or keeping BCCI's overall earnings in mind, is a matter of debate.