Reports | BCCI yet to pay Indian Women’s cricketers prize money from 2020 WT20

Women’s cricket in India, over the past few weeks, has been marred by controversy, and more scathing news has emerged as The Telegraph has reported that the Harmanpreet Kaur-led Indian T20I side, that reached the final of the World T20 in 2020, are yet to be paid by the BCCI for their showing in the global extravaganza. In what turned out to be a memorable event, the women’s team, coached by WV Raman, reached the final of the World T20 in Australia last year and pocketed $500,000 for finishing as runner’s up. However, in what comes as a scathing revelation, the Telegraph has reported that the BCCI still hold the entire prize pot awarded to India’s players, more than a year after they earned it.

The development was confirmed by Tom Moffat, the CEO of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA), who described the delay in payment as ‘unacceptable.’

"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 told Telegraph Sport.

Moffat, like Lisa Sthalekar, further urged the players in the country to come together and form a Player’s association in order to ensure that they are never at the mercy of the board.

"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."

As per the rules, the ICC are expected to pay the amount the teams earned to the national governing body (in this case BCCI) within a week of any tournament finishing. However, while both Cricket Australia (CA) and ECB are believed to have paid their cricketers within two months of the conclusion of the final, the BCCI are yet to make the payments to the Indian players despite the tournament having concluded more than 14 months ago.  

Should the report be true, it would serve as another black mark for the Sourav Ganguly-led BCCI, which has already come under fire for being neglectful towards women’s cricket. Most recently, the board came under fire for the disparity in player contracts, with the lowest earning Men cricketer earning twice as much as the highest paid women’s cricketer.