India women cricketers have not received the prize money from the 2020 Women’s T20 World Cup last year, as per the report of The Telegraph. Notably, India lost to Australia in the final, where they had played in front of a crowd of more than 86,000 at MCG as well and Indian players should have collectively received $500,000 (£350,000) as prize money too.
Meanwhile, Telegraph Sport understands that the board still holds the entire prize awarded to the Indian cricketers, over a year after they got it. Tom Moffat, the CEO of Fica, the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations, has said to the Telegraph Sport that the issue was raised with the International Cricket Council in August 2020 as well.
“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 said to the Telegraph Sport. “We encourage players in India to consider getting organised 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.”
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It is also noteworthy that, India and Pakistan are the two cricket nations that don’t have a recognised players’ body. Notably, the ICC pays the prize money and they give it within a week of any tournament finishing. And, this depends on the respective team’s national governing bodies to hand over the prize, in this case, the BCCI, unless they ask the ICC to pay the players directly as well. The full prize money needs to be allocated among the players and should be paid within 14 days of receiving it from the ICC as well. However, the BCCI has to determine how the prize money should be apportioned, whether it should be divided equally or according to the scale.
Meanwhile, Team India did not play a single international match for almost an entire year after the T20 World Cup final last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On the other hand, during this period, the men’s team had played eight Tests and six white-ball matches as well. The BCCI also hosted a 56-match IPL for its male players, while a four-match exhibition tournament for the women was hosted during the men’s IPL playoffs.
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However, for the 2020 IPL alone, Virat Kohli earned a salary of more than $2.3 million whereas the lowest amount a contracted men’s international player will earn is just under $140,000 as well. On the other hand, Veda Krishnamurthy, who last played in the T20 World Cup Final, is the only player from India’s women team who has lost her BCCI contract in the recently announced contracts list.
Meanwhile, as a domestic player, she receives no annual income, whereas her only earning comes through match fees and tournament daily allowances (which, according to players, aren’t enough to maintain everything. However, Telegraph Sport has approached the BCCI for comment and is currently waiting for it as well.
