The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has officially revealed the annual player contracts for the Indian women’s cricket team for the 2024-25 season. The contracts will be in effect from October 1, 2024, to September 30, 2025.
A total of 16 players of the senior Indian women’s cricket team were given central contracts by the BCCI for the 2024-25 season. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana, and seasoned all-rounder Deepti Sharma earned the Grade A contract.
BCCI announces central contracts for Indian Women for the 2024-25 season
The Grade B featured Renuka Thakur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, and Shafali Verma. A total of nine girls managed to secure the central contracts in Grade C. These India Women stars are Yastika Bhatia, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil, Titas Sadhu, Arundhati Reddy, Amanjot Kaur, Uma Chetry, Sneh Rana, and Pooja Vastrakar.
An official media release by BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia reads, “The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the Annual Player Contracts for Team India (Senior Women) for the 2024-25 season (October 1st, 2024 to September 30th, 2025).”
Five new players get the central contracts
Meanwhile, five centrally contracted players from the last season were overlooked by the board this time. The annual contracts of Meghna Singh (Grade C), Anjali Sarvani (Grade C), Devika Vaidya (Grade C), Sabbineni Meghana (Grade C), and Rajeshwari Gayakwad (Grade B) were not renewed by the BCCI for the 2024-25 season.
The Indian cricket board has given those five places to Shreyanka Patil, Titas Sadhu, Arundhati Reddy, Amanjot Kaur, and Uma Chetry in the fresh central contracts, but they are all added into the Grade C category. However, the board has not mentioned anything about the salaries.
But for the 2023-24 season, they structured the central contracts for the Indian women’s cricket team into three grades. Players in Grade A were awarded INR 50 lakh, those in Grade B earned INR 30 lakh, and Grade C players got INR 10 lakh to honor their performances.
India Women’s Central Contracts for the 2024-25 season:
Grade A: Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma.
Grade B: Renuka Thakur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Shafali Verma.
Grade C: Yastika Bhatia, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil, Titas Sadhu, Arundhati Reddy, Amanjot Kaur, Uma Chetry, Sneh Rana, Pooja Vastrakar.
Notably, India Women stars will soon be seen in action in the upcoming Senior Women’s Multi-Day Challenger Trophy. The red-ball tournament will take place in Dehradun from March 25 to April 8.
BCCI yet to finalize men’s central contracts for 2024-25
Meanwhile, the BCCI had announced the central contracts for the last season jointly for both men’s and women’s cricketers. However, this time, the board is yet to make any final decision for the men’s central contracts.
It is being said that the board officials were set to discuss the same with Indian chief selector Ajit Agarkar during the IPL 2025 opener between KKR and RCB in Kolkata.
Earlier, the BCCI secretary, Devajit Saikia, was quoted as saying by Sportstar, “We have had some deliberation on the women’s central contracts, but the men’s contracts are not on the agenda in the near future.”
