The BCCI shared the new central contracts for Indian women cricketers for the 2024-25 season on March 24. There’s just one change in the first two pay grades – Grade A and Grade B – but Grade C saw five players swapped out. Now, the total number of contracted players is down to 16 from 17.
Harmanpreet Kaur remains the captain, with Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma keeping their spots in Grade A. In Grade B, Renuka Thakur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, and Shafali Verma are still there, but bowler Rajeshwari Gaekwad has been dropped.
Grade C has seen a shake-up as well, with Harleen Deol, Meghana Singh, Devika Vaidya, Sabbineni Meghana, and Anjali Sarvani out. New faces Shreyanka Patil, Titas Sadhu, Arundhati Reddy, Amanjot Kaur, and Uma Chetry have taken their places.
It’s worth noting that the BCCI didn’t officially roll out central contracts for the previous season, as the last posted list on their website is from 2022-23. The three grades show the different salary levels for players, but the BCCI hasn’t talked about any pay changes. Last time, players in Grade A earned Rs 50 lakh each, Grade B got Rs 30 lakh, and Grade C was at Rs 10 lakh. For men, the contracts ranged from Rs 1 crore in Grade C up to Rs 7 crore in Grade A+.
The BCCI mentioned, The Annual Player Contracts for Team India (Senior Women) for the 2024-25 season (October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025) were announced. On another note, discussions for men’s contracts for the 2024-25 season haven’t started yet. Last year saw some drama when Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer missed out because they hadn’t played in domestic games during international breaks. BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia said, We’ve talked about the women’s contracts but men’s contracts aren’t on the agenda right now, as reported by Sportstar on March 20.
