The Indian batswoman, Smriti Mandhana has grabbed all the limelight after she started an age-old discussion on equal pay for male and female cricketers in India.
Well, recently, the annual contracts of the Indian cricketers were renewed and according to which, the top bracket of male cricketers, i.e, Grade A+ cricketers which include names like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah are slated to earn Rs 7 crore, while on the other hand, elite-level female cricketers are only going to make Rs 50 lakh for the same period of time.
Recently, during the launch of a new range of shoes, Smriti Mandhana talked about how she is not bothered about the difference in the paycheques that the male and female cricketers receive under the central contract with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Talking about the same, she said:
“We need to understand that the revenue which we get is through men’s cricket. The day women’s cricket starts getting revenue, I will be the first person to say that we need the same thing. But right now, we can’t say that,”
Furthermore, Smriti Mandhana went on to clarify that not just her but the entire squad is focused on the upcoming T20 World Cup and not about the difference in the paycheques they receive. She said:
“I don’t think any of the teammates are thinking about this gap because the only focus right now is to win matches for India, get the crowd coming in, get the revenue. That is the thing which we are aiming for and if that happens, all other things are going to fall in place,”
She also that it is unfair on their part to ask for the same pay. She said:
“And for that, we need to perform. It is unfair on our part to say that we need same pay, it is not right. So I don’t think I want to comment on that gap,”
Twitterati are all praises for the Indian cricketers for her comments related to the difference in pay-cheques. Here, check out the reactions of Twitterati on this:
There you go 🙂
Smriti Mandhana has a point ! https://t.co/ggO3S8DDmP— Sushil Menon (@SusheelMenon) January 23, 2020
https://twitter.com/firkey_/status/1219965877644189696?s=20
https://twitter.com/staunchtweep/status/1219967644662562816?s=20
https://twitter.com/Awadhes11919070/status/1220000961466380288?s=20
You are being brutally honest ?https://t.co/WwQfqcHZ4N
— Gangadhara । ಗಂಗಾधर ?? (@gangshetty) January 23, 2020
But Smriti Mandhana hit longer sixes than many men counterpart.
— Abhishek Sinha (@prodigyabhi87) January 23, 2020
https://twitter.com/k_vijayendra8/status/1219969670213554178?s=20
Smriti Mandhana, while talking about salary equality in cricket, said, “The revenue we get is through men’s cricket.”
Please tell us about it. #ASKSPORTSTAK @vikrantgupta73 @rawatrahul9— Divye Kuchhal (@divye4436) January 22, 2020
https://twitter.com/RM_IA21/status/1220029702703697920?s=20
Another reason to like #SmritiMandhana ???
Seedhi baat no bakwas ?— Kunal Thakur (@kunalthakur2020) January 22, 2020
Talent, Beauty and Brain #SmritiMandhana pic.twitter.com/XDvTODBIbW
— Suneer (@MeSuneer) January 22, 2020
