Dropped from central contract in May, 4 India players won't be paid salary for last 7 months

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), after being humiliated for not paying the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 prize money to the Indian Women's team finally asked the team members to raise their invoices for the prize money. Along with that, they have also been asked to raise an invoice for their central contract for 2020-21 period. However, that has not come without controversy yet again. 

The UK Telegraph reported that the women cricketers who have not got retainer contracts this year, would not be paid the retainer fees from October to May, the period for which the central contract was not renewed. The new contracts have only been negotiated and placed only in May 2021 and this development has sprung out of nowhere.  

“Four players who recently lost their central contracts will receive no payment for their work between October last year and May this year. This means that during a seven-and-a-half month period those four players — Ekta Bisht, Dayalan Hemalatha, Veda Krishnamurthy and Anuja Patil — were unable to seek alternative employment or income, and yet will be paid only match fees and tour allowances,” the report by Isabelle Westbury said. 

Krishnamurthy, who lost her mother and elder sister to Covid-19 in a span of just 15 days, was among the four players omitted from the BCCI’s central contracts which were announced earlier this month. 

The report further scrutinises the BCCI pay system in which the Indian players, domestic and international have to fill in an invoice for any prize money, match fees or daily allowances and the sum specified in their retainers which are paid quarterly. 

The BCCI has also been questioned on its stance for asking the Indian Women’s team members of the T20 World Cup to fill just over $25,500 in their invoice for the prize money. According to the math done for the total prize money won by an individual member of the team, each Women’s team member is entitled to nearly $37,000. 

“Not only should India’s women have received $500,000 for finishing runners-up, but they should also have received $15,000 per group stage win. This would have meant total winnings of $560,000 (Rs 4.08 crore), as India’s women won four group-stage matches. Split equally between the 15-woman squad which competed in that tournament, each player should therefore receive in excess of $37,000,” the report said.  

It now puts the focus on the fact as to where have more than $175,000 (Rs 1.27 Crores) unaccounted money gone? It is instances like these that are putting the board under the scanner.

The Indian Women’s team is currently quarantining in Mumbai from where they would leave for England on June 2 for a multi-format series beginning with the one-off Tests in Bristol from June 16.