The richest cricketing board in the world has come under the scanner once again for not giving its women cricketers their deserved due. It has been over 14 months since the Women in Blue played the finals of World T20 against Australia in Melbourne in front of a record crowd of 86,174. Though India lost the finals, the girls won many hearts. Harmanpreet Kaur and co. remained invincible throughout the tournament but in the end, they were handed a defeat by the reigning champions.
For their stellar performance in the tournament which helped them to reach the finals, the Indian team should have collectively received $500,000 (approx Rs. 3.5 crore). The BCCI still holds the entire prize money which is evident from the statement made by Tom Moffat, the CEO of Fica, the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations, who told Telegraph Sport that it was made aware of the non-payment of the prize money in August 2020, when it raised the issue with the International Cricket Council. Cognizant of this, Fica contacted the Indian players to offer support.
“Prize money is payable to players for their on-field performance in pinnacle events and the late non-payment of money owing to players is unacceptable,” Mr Moffat told Telegraph Sport.
“We encourage players in India to consider getting organized as part of a players’ association so they, and the game in India, can benefit from collective player representation in the same way that their fellow professionals around the world do.”
The transfer of prize money takes place from ICC to the cricket board (in this case, the BCCI) and from the cricket board to the players. This is the typical process unless that body asks the ICC to pay the players directly. As per rules, the players should get the award money within two weeks. It is up to the cricket board to determine how the prize money should be divided, whether equally or according to a sliding scale.
While the Women in Blue are yet to receive the handsome prize money, the winning team, Australia received its share of the USD $1.6 million ($1m from ICC and $600,000 from Cricket Australia) the month after the tournament’s conclusion, in April 2020. Similarly the semi-finalists England also got their sum of $120,000 within two months of the final.
This article is an excerpt of the original article published by Telegraph
I am a former cricketer having represented Mumbai University at All India University level. I was a part of MCA probables for the U-19 and U-23 age group. I have been an avid cricket writer for the last five years. Currently I am pursuing my Ph.D from IIT Bombay.