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Cricket PlayersWomen’s contract value unchanged, Deepti Sharma promoted
With the advent of WPL, T20 performers are rewarded but Shikha Pandey’s WPL showings remain overlooked
India’s pool of contracted women players (2022-23) has come down marginally by two to 17, with no changes in pay structure – Grade A ₹50 lakhs, Grade B ₹30 lakhs, Grade C ₹10 lakhs - in the new list announced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday.
Captain Harmanpreet Kaur and vice-captain Smriti Mandhana continue to bag top Grades while spin all-rounder Deepti Sharma has been promoted from Grade B (contracts were last declared for October 2020-September 2021) to Grade A.
While left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad and batters Jemimah Rodrigues and Shafali Verma stay in Grade B, swing bowler Renuka Singh Thakur earns her first national retainership, directly in Grade B. Wicket-keeper and destructive batter Richa Ghosh moves up a notch to win the second-best contract.
Meghna Singh, Anjali Sarvani and Yastika Bhatia who made their India debuts from the last time contracts were announced and Sneh Rana, Devika Vaidya, and Sabbineni Meghana who made national comebacks received Grade C contracts. Left-arm spinner Radha Yadav was demoted from Grade B to Grade C.
Those who lost out
The biggest loser was leg-spinner Poonam Yadav who from being a Grade A contact holder wasn’t given any retainer this time. Yadav’s loopy leg-spinners were a big hit during the 2020 T20 World Cup but she has been in and out of the national team since. Batter Punam Raut too moves out from the contract list. She last featured in a Test match against Australia in October 2021 and was in Grade B.
Pacer Shikha Pandey’s omission comes as a surprise. Approaching her 34th birthday, Pandey remains an effective T20 performer – she got 10 wickets in 9 WPL matches – with India’s pace reserves still scarce.
Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami, the two big names in the last contract list have since retired and moved to coaching and commentary.
Disparity in India and WPL contract money
A greater focus on T20 performances is noticeable in the new contracts with the advent of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) and three T20 world events scheduled in the next four-year ICC events cycle.
The total outlay of contract payments for the Indian board now amounts to only ₹3.9 crore. Mandhana alone bagged a WPL contract worth ₹3.4 crore. As many as ten Indian players got deals over ₹1 crore at the WPL auction. The jury is out on whether the BCCI needs to address this pay anomaly.
A total of ₹59.5 crores were spent at the WPL auction on 87 players, 30 of them overseas. The Women’s Big Bash has recently raised its contract money to ₹60,00,000 for the top overseas players.
