International Women’s Day: BCCI gives Virat Kohli ₹7 crore & Mithali Raj ₹50 lakhs

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) handed out the central contracts to the cricketers of both men as well as the women team. While on one hand the top most contract of the men fetched ₹7 crore the women cricketers contract had placed them at ₹50 lakh. These contracts were from the period of October 2017 to September 2018. There was a significant hike in the annual payout by the BCCI to the men's cricket with the contract for topmost retention increasing to ₹7 crore from ₹2 crore. But in a rather unfortunate series of events to look out was how the contracts of the Indian women's team was given. The likes of Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur, Jhulan Goswami and Smriti Mandhana were handed over the Grade A contract. But the amount in their contract was even less than what a Grade C men's cricketer would get by the BCCI. It's not like the there's been a stark difference in both the sides for this much discrepancy to take place. The Indian women's team won their first ODI series win against South Africa in South Africa pretty much like the men. They even reached the finals of the World Cup winning 6 out of their 9 matches. They lost to England in the finals by just 9 runs. But on a day when the world is celebrating World Women's Day, it does raise a point can sports ever be equal for both men and women?