On Thursday, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) announced that they have decided to increase the salary and match fees of the contracted national women cricketers. There are 22 women cricketers who are centrally contracted.
BCB women’s wing chairman Nadel Chowdhury confirmed the development to Cricbuzz on Thursday. He added that the board has approved a 20 percent hike in the salary of contracted women cricketers during the board meeting that was held on June 15.
”We have increased the salary of the women cricketers by 20 percent and they will receive their salary in the new pay scale from this month (July),” said Shafiul. Shafiul informed that from now onwards women cricketers will receive 300 USD (approx. INR 21,000) as match fees for ODIs while they will get USD 150 (approx. INR 10,500) for T20Is.
“Earlier they (women cricketers) used to get 100 USD (approx.. INR 7,000) and 75 USD (approx. INR 5250) as match fees respectively for ODIs and T20Is,” he said, adding that they have also decided to increase the number of national contracted women cricketers.
The 22 women cricketers, who have been given national contracts by the BCB are classified into four categories. With the 20 percent increase in salary now they will receive- BDT 60000(A category), BDT 48000(B category), BDT 36000 (C category), and BDT 25000(D category).
| Category | Amount in BDT | Amount in INR (approximately) |
| Grade A | 60,000 | 52,915 |
| Grade B | 48,000 | 42,332 |
| Grade C | 36,000 | 31,749 |
| Grade D | 25,000 | 22,048 |
A salary hike, increase in match fee, and potential rise in the number of centrally contracted players are some positive signs for Bangladesh women’s cricket. However, it is important that alongside this, the BCB takes some more initiatives to schedule international matches for the Bangladesh women’s team.
The team last played an international series in 2020 and that was the ICC Women’s World T20. It has been more than 16 months that the girls have had no international matches. Conversely, the men’s team has been busy as it has already played four international series this year, with one ongoing against Zimbabwe.
Can BCB also look into this and ensure that the women’s team get more game time?
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.