The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has substantially increased the payments for the women domestic cricketers. The women players are now set to have their match-fee virtually at par with the men in domestic cricket.

As per the revised pay structure, the women players will be paid INR 50,000 per day in every domestic one-day and multi-day games they play. This fee is applied for all the members of the Playing XI. The non-playing members will earn INR 25,000 per match. For T20 matches, the fees will be INR 25,000 for the playing XI, and INR 12,500 for reserves.

Per the existing structure, senior women in the playing XI are paid INR 20,000 with those on the bench get INR 10,000.

In junior cricket tournaments, the revised pay would be INR 25,000 per day for the playing XI and INR 12,500 per day for the reserves. For T20 matches, their fees will now be INR 12,500 for the first-XI and INR 6,250 for non-playing members.

A BCCI note says, "On an average, a senior woman cricketer receives around INR 2 lakh for a season if the team only plays the league stages of senior tournaments." The income from a season will now substantially go up.

The decision to raise the payments was approved by the Apex Council of the BCCI which met virtually on Monday (December 22) evening.

Suggested Pay Structure for Umpires

The BCCI has also increased the fee for the umpires. The Apex Council has suggested the following revision:

"In line with the Umpires Committee's recommendations, it is proposed that all umpires officiating in league matches of domestic tournaments be paid a uniform fee of INR 40,000 per day, irrespective of their earlier grouping. For knockout matches, a higher fee of INR 50,000 - INR 60,000 per day is proposed, to be applied as per the tournament and match status, so as to recognise the heightened competitive and operational demands of these fixtures and to create a clear performance linked incentive for umpires appointed to such matches."

Extension of revised structure to match referees

"It is further proposed that the same revised fee structure be extended to the 79 match referees, such that match referees are also paid INR 40,000 per day for league matches and INR 50,000 - INR 60,000 per day for knockout matches, thereby ensuring consistency, equity and alignment across all on-field officials in domestic cricket."