Smriti Mandhana says its unfair to expect equal pay since major revenue comes from men's cricket

She is looking forward to playing in the T20 World Cup 2020.

India will play a tri-series before the T20 World Cup 2020 | Getty Images

ICC’s woman cricketer of the year Smriti Mandhana has expressed her view on the contentious issue of pay parity in the game, saying it will be “unfair” for the women’s team to ask for equal pay at the moment since the revenue comes through the men’s cricket.

Mandhana, Indian Women’s cricket team’s star opening batswoman, has brushed off the calls for equal paycheques while claiming that she will be the first one to start demanding equal pay the day women’s cricket begins generating the same revenue as men’s cricket.

She told reporters on Wednesday, “We need to understand that the revenue we get is through men’s cricket. The day women’s cricket starts earning revenue, I will be the first person to say that we need the same thing. But right now, we can’t say that.”

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The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s central contracted players who are in the top category are entitled to get an annual remuneration of Rs 7 crore, while a female cricketer in the same category gets Rs 50 lakh and she doesn’t think any of my teammates have any issue with it.

She further explained, “I don’t think any of my teammates are thinking about this [pay] gap because the only focus right now is to win matches for India, get the crowd coming in and earn revenues. That what we are aiming for, and if that happens, everything else will fall in place. And for that, we need to perform. It is unfair on our part to say that we need to be paid as much as the men – it is not right. So, I don’t think I want to comment on that gap.”

Meanwhile, India will play a tri-series before the World T20 2020 starting February in Australia and Mandhana revealed they have been planning for the mega ICC event in the last one year, but the series is important to finalize the team composition right before the tournament.

She continued, “Most of them (the players) have played in Australia, so I think with India A touring Australia last month, that is also going to be a big help (as) four-five players were part of that team as well. But the tri-series is going to be a really important tournament, thinking about the team composition. It is quite exciting. Looking forward to playing this World Cup with this team as it is a new team with a mixture of experienced and new players.”

Mandhana also revealed that she has worked on her shot-selection for better results, adding: “Knowing that you can play your cover drive, on-drive, play over covers are things I used to always be like, ‘should I hit it here or there’.”

She signed off by saying, “I had to limit my shots in the ODI format and understand what the team needs. He [coach WV Raman] has told me to try and play 30 overs in ODIs and 12 overs in the T20s. But to get a big score, you need to be there at the crease...it is helpful to work with Raman sir.”

(With PTI Inputs)

 
 

By Rashmi Nanda - 23 Jan, 2020

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