(By Manasi Agarwal)

The ‘men and women in Blue’ teams are scheduled to go to England for their respective cricket series. The men’s team will first play the final of the World Test Championship with New Zealand from 18 June to 22 June and thereafter will play 5-Test matches series against England.

The women’s team is scheduled to play 1-Test, 3-ODIs, and 3-T20I matches against England starting with a Test match. The Test match will start on 16 June. Players of both squads are under quarantine in Mumbai from 19 May. Though some members of the team including men’s head coach Ravi Shastri and captain Virat Kohli will join on 24 May. All the members who reported in Mumbai submitted their RT-PCR negative test report of themselves and their family members who are accompanying them to Englanddone 48 hours prior to their entry into the bio-bubble.

They will remain in quarantine for a period of one week before flying to England. However, a bizarre attitude of the BCCI came into the limelight prior to players’ entry into the bio-bobble. It has been reported in some quarters that the BCCI arranged RT-PCR tests for all players of the men’s team at their respective homes, while the players of the female squad were advised to get the tests done on their own.

No special arrangement was done for female players and they got it done by going to a hospital or a test center. There was all likelihood of any such player getting infected while visiting a crowded hospital or a test center. The BCCI had already made it clear to all the players that in case any player is detected positive, he or she will immediately be ousted from the bio-bubble.

However, after much hue and cry in the media, The BCCI arranged an RT-PCR test for female players also. There are 18 probable female players for Test and ODI matches under the captaincy of Mithali Raj while 17 players are selected for the T20I series led by Harmanpreet Kaur. Virat Kohli is the captain of the men’s team.

The BCCI on Wednesday late evening announced the yearly central contract for 19 female cricketers. There are 3 categories of these players as against 4 of male players. The highest category in females is A followed by B and C, whereas it is A+, A, B, and C for males.

The female player in the topmost category is paid 50 lakh per annum while the topmost category (A+) male player is paid 7 crores. Any male player in the last category (C) is paid 1 crore, which in itself is double than the top category of female players’ payment. Thus Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Bumrah (A+) get 7 crores each and Harmanpreet Kaur, SmritiMandhana and Poonam Yadav (A) get 50 lakh each.

The female cricketers in India were brought in the contracted categories in 2015-16 for the first time. The top category player was then paid 15 lakh per month, which is now 50 lakh, A male cricketer in the top category was paid 1 crore that year, which is now 7 crore. A 7-times increase as against 3-times. All the Grand Slam Tennis tournaments (US Open, Wimbledon, French Open & Australian Open) are paying an equal winning amount to men and ladies champions, started in 2001 with US Open. England, Australia, and other cricket-playing countries are bridging the disparity between male and female cricketers’ payment, whereas it is widening in India. The male cricketers earn from IPL and brand endorsements while female cricketers are not so lucky.

The BCCI has to look into it seriously considering the growing competition in the world of female cricket and also to motivate more talents to come forward. The current leadership team of the BCCI under SouravGanguli and Jay Shah can take decisive steps to demolish the apparent gender bias.