Almost 15 months after finishing runner-up in the T20 World Cup, the India Women roster is finally getting its share of the $ 500,000 (approx. INR 3.5 billion) prize pool. ESPNcricinfo learned that on Monday the BCCI asked players to bill in order to receive their shares.
The development comes a day after the UK release. The Telegraph revealed that the squad had not yet received their prize money, although other teams, including Australia, who had won the World Cup, received their prize money shortly after the tournament ended.
ESPNcricinfo learned that the ICC paid the prize money to the BCCI in March last year, about a week after the World Cup finals held on International Women’s Day (March 8th) at the MCG in front of a record 86,174 spectators.
When asked for comment, BCCI officials told ESPNcricinfo that they did not know the reason for the delay. ESPNcricinfo confirmed the delay with more than one player and support staff being part of the Indian squad led by Harmanpreet Kaur.
The delay raised eyebrows as the BCCI has been paying out all other payments owed to players since March 2020. This includes three installments of their central contract fee for 2019-20, game fees and entry fees for the Women’s T20 Challenge in Sharjah last November. The players are said to have recently submitted their invoices for the game fees for the limited overs home series against South Africa in March 2021. However, payments are still expected.
Incidentally, the BCCI has learned that it has distributed the prize money allocated by the ICC to the Indian team that finished second in the 2020 U19 World Cup, which Bangladesh won in South Africa last February. The T20 Women’s World Cup took place just a few weeks later. According to The Telegraph, the victorious Australian players received their share of $ 1.6 million in prize money shortly after the tournament. (ESPNcricinfo)
