How Indian Women’s Cricket Team Salaries Compare to Men’s: Progress and Persistent Gaps
In recent years, women’s cricket in India has surged in popularity, viewership, and professionalism. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has made commendable strides toward equality — especially with the landmark decision to offer women cricketers the same match fees as men. Yet, beneath this surface-level parity lies a deeper financial divide in the sport’s structure, contracts, and franchise leagues.
The Milestone of Equal Match Fees
In October 2022, the BCCI made history by announcing that male and female cricketers representing India would receive equal match fees across formats. This landmark decision positioned India as one of the few nations to achieve such parity in international cricket compensation.
Under the equal pay structure:
- Test matches: ₹15 lakh per player
- One Day Internationals (ODIs): ₹6 lakh per player
- Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is): ₹3 lakh per player
This move ensured that women athletes, when donning the Indian jersey, would be valued equally for their time and effort on the field. It also symbolized a broader shift in how women’s cricket is being viewed — not as a secondary pursuit but as an integral part of India’s sporting identity.
The Central Contract Divide
While match fees have achieved equality, the story changes drastically when examining annual central contracts. The BCCI classifies players into grades, offering annual retainers depending on their performance and seniority.
For the men’s team, the structure is divided into four tiers:
- Grade A+ (top-tier players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Jasprit Bumrah): ₹7 crore per year
- Grade A: ₹5 crore per year
- Grade B: ₹3 crore per year
- Grade C: ₹1 crore per year
In contrast, the women’s team contracts fall into three grades with significantly smaller payouts:
- Grade A: ₹50 lakh per year
- Grade B: ₹30 lakh per year
- Grade C: ₹10 lakh per year
This massive gap illustrates how far women’s cricket still has to go in achieving true financial parity. Even the top-performing female cricketers earn less than one-tenth of what their male counterparts receive under BCCI retainers.
Prize Money: Signs of Encouraging Change
Interestingly, the prize pools for global tournaments are beginning to tell a more hopeful story. For the upcoming 2025 Women’s Cricket World Cup, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced a record prize pool of USD 13.88 million (approximately ₹122.5 crore). This surpasses the USD 10 million prize pool offered for the 2023 Men’s World Cup.
This marks a significant symbolic moment — it’s not only recognition of women’s cricket’s growing popularity but also an acknowledgment that female athletes deserve equal stakes in international competition.
The Franchise Factor: IPL vs. WPL
Perhaps the most glaring disparity in pay lies in the realm of franchise cricket. The Indian Premier League (IPL) is the most lucrative domestic cricket tournament in the world, while the Women’s Premier League (WPL), launched in 2023, is still in its infancy.
In the IPL:
- The highest-paid male player earns around ₹27 crore per season.
In the WPL:
- The highest-paid female player earns approximately ₹3.4 crore per season — nearly nine times less.
While the WPL has been a game-changer in terms of visibility and opportunity for women cricketers, it will take several seasons before it reaches anything close to the commercial scale and sponsorship muscle of the IPL.
What Equality Really Means in the Long Run
The push for gender pay parity in cricket is not merely about numbers — it’s about recognition, opportunity, and respect. The equalization of match fees was a historic first step, but true equality will require systemic balance across all revenue sources: contracts, endorsements, league participation, and prize money.
Sponsorship and broadcasting revenue also play a crucial role. The IPL’s billion-dollar ecosystem naturally translates into larger paychecks for male players. For women’s cricket to bridge this divide, consistent investment, better marketing, and more international fixtures are essential.
Moreover, increased visibility of the WPL — through prime-time slots, better branding, and cross-promotional engagement — could eventually lead to a more balanced economic landscape.
A Balanced Future Ahead
The evolution of Indian women’s cricket is not just a story of sport; it’s a story of social transformation. From being underfunded and under-televised to now enjoying packed stadiums and equal match fees, the journey is remarkable. Yet, as the numbers show, the financial journey toward equality is far from complete.
If the current pace of reform continues — with the BCCI’s active support, growing fan engagement, and corporate sponsorships — Indian women’s cricket could soon see a day when its players are compensated not based on gender, but purely on performance and contribution.
In the words of many athletes, “Equal pay is not just about fairness; it’s about value.” India has taken bold steps forward — but the innings for true parity has only just begun.
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