The Mumbai Cricket Association has become the first state cricket body in India to hand out equal annual retainers to its men’s and women’s players. The move marks a significant shift in how domestic boards structure player payments across gender lines.
MCA Introduces 22 Contracts Across Three Grades
The MCA has awarded contracts to 22 players in total — 14 men and eight women. These retainers target cricketers who aren’t centrally contracted by the BCCI and don’t fall under any other central program. The board split the players into three grades. Grade A players will receive INR 12 lakh a year. Grade B contracts come with INR 8 lakh, and Grade C sits at INR 6 lakh.
Every player in a given grade earns the same amount, regardless of gender. Players will also collect match fees, daily allowances, and performance-based incentives on top of these base retainers.
This decision arrives more than seven years after Sourav Ganguly first flagged pay parity as a priority during his time as BCCI president. Ganguly is no longer in that role, and the plan sat unrealized at the national level until Mumbai’s state association picked it up on its own.
Men’s and Women’s Squads Get Top Billing
Batter Siddhesh Lad and spin-bowling allrounder Shams Mulani lead the men’s list in Grade A. Fast bowler Mohit Avasthi joins wicketkeepers Akash Anand and Hardik Tamore in Grade B. Eight more players, including allrounders Sairaj Patil and Himanshu Singh, round out Grade C for the men’s side.
On the women’s side, Humaira Kazi and Vrushali Bhagat hold the two Grade A spots. Sanika Chalke is the only player in Grade B. Five others made Grade C; among them is left-arm seamer Fatima Jaffer. The gap between men’s and women’s squad sizes reflects the depth of contracted players at each level, though the pay bands themselves stay identical.
Rahane Scholarship Fund Adds to MCA’s Recent Push
Alongside the new retainers, the MCA launched a scholarship fund named after Ajinkya Rahane, which honored his contribution to Mumbai and Indian cricket after his retirement earlier this year. Former MCA president Sharad Pawar has already contributed to the fund, which the association says will go toward supporting grassroots cricketers in the city.
This isn’t the MCA’s first attempt at reworking how it compensates its players. During the 2024-25 season, the board doubled pay for its senior men’s team, which meant players earned twice as much across a domestic season compared to before.
The broader push toward rewarding domestic cricket has picked up pace recently. Several former players have called for boards to prioritize the format, especially after the BCCI rolled out a Test incentive scheme for centrally contracted men. Under that scheme, a player’s match fees can jump by 300% if he plays in more than 75% of his team’s Tests in a season. The MCA’s latest move follows that same broader trend of domestic boards trying to make non-IPL cricket financially viable for their players.
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