For the Women cricketers, the BCCI has introduced a new category - Grade C cricketers. Under this bracket will earn Rs 10 lakhs, Grade B cricketers will now earn INR 30 lakhs as compared to the previous retainer-ship of INR. 10 Lakhs. Grade A players which include Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Harmanpreet Kaur and a new entrant Smriti Mandhana, who will earn INR 50 lakhs per annum, a 35 Lakh increase from the previous contract.

Only six women’s cricketers are part of the B bracket - Poonam Yadav, Veda Krishnamurthy, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Ekta Bisht, Shikha Pandey and Deepti Sharma. Nine cricketers have been grouped under the C bracket - Mansi Joshi, Anuja Patil, Mona Meshram, Nuzhat Parveen, Sushma Verma, Punam Raut, Jemimah Rodrigues, Pooja Vastrakar and Taniya Bhatia.

Thursday is International Women’s Day. Just as well that the BCCI announced a new contract system for India’s women cricketers on Wednesday. This is only the second time that the board has announced a central contract system for women cricketers, and first after the 2015-16 season.

Grade A

Rs 50 Lakh

Mithali Raj

Jhulan Goswami

Harmanpreet Kaur

Smriti Mandhana

Grade B

Rs 30 Lakh

Poonam Yadav

Veda Krishnamurthy

Rajeshwari Gayakwad

Ekta Bisht

Shikha Pandey

Deepti Sharma

Grade C

Rs 10 Lakh

Mansi Joshi

Anuja Patil

Mona Meshram

Nuzhat Parveen

Sushma Verma

Punam Raut

Jemimah Rodrigues

Pooja Vastrakar

Taniya Bhatia