BCCI announces annual retainership for Indian women's cricket team for 2022-23.

The BCCI has announced annual player contracts for Indian women's cricket team for the season 2022-23.

On April 27, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the annual player retainership for the Indian women's team for the 2022-23 season. Harmanpreet Kaur, who led the Mumbai Indians to victory in the Women's Premier League, and star opener Smriti Mandhana will remain in Grade A, while all-rounder Deepti Sharma has been promoted from Grade B. However, veteran spinner Poonam Yadav did not receive an annual contract.

The list also saw wicket-keeper batter Richa Ghosh move up to Grade B, and Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Varma, and Rajeshwari Gayakwad retain their Grade B contracts.

Shikha Pandey and Radha Yadav have been demoted to Grade C, while Pooja Vastrakar and Harleen Deol remain in Grade C. Additionally, Punam Raut, Shikha Pandey, Taniya Bhatia, Mansi Joshi, Priya Punia, and Arundhati Reddy did not have their contracts renewed.

Indian Women's Cricket Team: Annual Player Contracts for 2022-23 season

The contracts include three grades, with players assigned to each grade based on their performances.

Grade A (50 Lakhs) - Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma

Grade B (30 Lakhs) - Renuka Thakur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh, Rajeshwari Gayakwad

Grade C (10 Lakhs) - Meghna Singh, Devika Vaidya, Sabbineni Meghana, Anjali Sarvani, Pooja Vastrakar, Sneh Rana, Radha Yadav, Harleen Deol, Yastika Bhatia

BCCI took a commendable step towards promoting pay equality by introducing equal pay for the Indian women's cricket team last year, aiming to bridge the gap in pay parity between female cricketers and their male counterparts. Although match fees for female cricketers have seen a significant increase, the annual retainer for women's cricketers has remained the same.

The highest tier, Grade A, earns INR 50 lakh. Grade B and Grade C are valued at INR 30 lakh and INR 10 lakh respectively, which is consistent with the previous annual contracts for the women's team.