BCCI announces annual player contracts for Indian women's team

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday announced the Annual Player Contracts for Team India (Senior Women) for the 2022-23 season.

The contracts of the women's cricket team are divided into three grades. However, the men's team was divided into four grades. A plus grade is not kept in the women's cricket team. In this contract, women cricketers are divided into A, B and C grades.

"The Board of Control for Cricket in India on Thursday announced the Annual Player Contracts for Team India (Senior Women) for the 2022-23 season," BCCI said in a release.

Captain Harmanpreet Kaur, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana and all-rounder Deepti Sharma have earned the top A-grade - Grade A worth INR 5 million — in the BCCI Central contract list for the upcoming season.

The players in the top bracket have been cut down from five last year to three, with Rajeshwari Gayakwad dropping to Grade B - worth INR 3 million — and Poonam Yadav missing out on a central contract altogether.

Names in Grade B include youngsters Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, and Shafali Verma. While the former two, along with Renuka Thakur, make a jump from Grade C to Grade B after their impressive showings over the last year, especially the 2022 Women's World Cup and the 2023 T20 World Cup.

Many fresh faces have been rewarded with their maiden central contract in the Grade C category — worth INR 1 million. Meghna Singh, Devika Vaidya, Sabbineni Meghana, Anjali Sarvani, Radha Yadav and Yastika Bhatia. Sneh Rana and Harleen Deol retain their place in Grade C while Pooja Vastrakar drops a Grade.

The Indian women enjoyed a stellar last year in international cricket. After failing to get past the group stages in the Women's World Cup 2022, they bounced back by making it to the final of the inaugural edition of cricket at the Commonwealth Games, bagging the silver medal against Australia and then qualifying for the final four of the Women's T20 World Cup in South Africa earlier this year.

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