 "Pakistan women cricketers offered pay below minimum wage for unskilled workers in new contracts: Report")
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced women’s domestic contracts for the 2024-25 season, awarding 90 players across various categories, including 18 U19 cricketers, 62 emerging players, and 10 capped internationals. This marks only the second time the PCB has offered domestic contracts to women cricketers, following the inaugural batch in 2023-24.
Low pay for Pakistan women players raises concerns
The fresh contracts mark an increase from last year’s 79 contracts. However, the monthly salary still remains low. According to a Cricbuzz report, players have been offered PKR 35,000 (INR 10,000 approx), which is below Pakistan’s mandated minimum wage for unskilled workers (PKR 37,000 or INR 11,400 approx). The announcement has raised serious concerns about the financial aspect of women’s cricket in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, the report states that the contracts were delayed by nearly nine months as they should have been announced in July last year. The match fees have been set at PKR 20,000 (INR 6,000 approx) per game, which doesn’t give much relief either. Additionally, Pakistani women cricketers have very few playing opportunities as a player can play a maximum of 31 days of cricket if they feature in every game and reach the finals across three domestic competitions.
A similar story for domestic women cricketers in India as senior women’s players earn only INR 20,000 per match for a domestic one-day game (2021 data). However, since there is no first-class women’s competition in India, the total earnings of a domestic women’s cricketer in a year is almost equal to what a male first-class cricketer earns in just one and a half matches. The Women’s Premier League (WPL) has improved earnings for top-tier players but the pay gap at the domestic level is still a concern.
By comparison, Australian domestic women cricketers earn an average of USD 96,000 annually (approximately INR 83 lakh), way more than their Pakistani and Indian counterparts. This is despite Cricket Australia generating far less revenue than the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and being on par with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
The pay also reflects in Australia’s performances, as their women’s team is the most successful side in the history of the game. They have won a total of 14 ICC titles, including seven Cricket World Cups and six T20 World Cups. On the other hand, neither the Indian nor the Pakistani women’s cricket teams have ever won an ICC title. The Indian team has reached the finals on several occasions and also made multiple semi-final appearances in both formats but the Pakistani women’s team is yet to reach an ICC final.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsMeanwhile, a report in Dawn has stated that the PCB has also taken to cutting down the match fees for the National T20 Cup to manage the financial crisis after the Champions Trophy 2025 debacle. As per the report, the match fees were reduced from PKR 40,000 to PKR 10,000 without any official announcement. But after “discontent from domestic cricketers,” it has been raised to PKR 30,000 per match, still PKR 10,000 less than in 2024.
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