BCCI in a historic move announces equal match pay for both men and women cricketers of India.

The Board of Control for Cricket on Thursday, October 27 announced implementation of pay equity policy for Women Cricketers.

The decision was taken in the 15th BCCI Apex Council meeting held via video conference where the members passed the resolution unanimously, states an official release.

The announcement was done by BCCI secretary Jay Shah through a social media post, which said that the decision was taken as a step towards tackling discrimination between men and women cricketers of India.

"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 Indian Cricket," Shah tweeted.

He added that the women cricketers will be paid the same match fee as their male counterparts. For test matches, they would get Rs 15 lakh, for one-day internationals (ODIs) Rs 6 lakh, T20 International matches Rs 3 lakh. 

"Pay equity was my commitment to our women cricketers and I thank the Apex Council for their support. Jai Hind ????," he wrote.

Women's Cricket team Captain, Harmanpreet Kaur says she welcomes the decision and says that she is really happy about the equal pay announcement. She also says that now more girls will consider cricket as a professional career.

Kaur took to her Twitter handle and wrote, "Truly a red letter day for Women’s Cricket in India with pay parity announced for women and men. Thank you @BCCI and @JayShah."

Earlier in July, 2022, New Zealand announced equal pay policy making it the first country to introduce equal pay for women's and men's cricketers.

BCCI previously announced the much-awaited Women's IPL which will have five teams and is set to take place in March 2023 before the start of men's IPL.