We need to understand that the revenue which we get is through men’s cricket: Smriti Mandhana

Smriti Mandhana isn’t bothered about the pay disparity.

BCCI recently announced the annual contract retainers for both male and female cricketers. And, it wasn’t bereft of controversies. From former Indian captain, MS Dhoni getting omitted from the central contract list to the huge disparity between the highest annual pay between men and women cricketers, the only thing trending on social media was the news around the contracts.

While the Men’s cricket team annual retainers were divided into four categories- A+ [7 Crore], A [5 Crore], B [3 Crore] and C [1 Crore], their counterparts highest retainer fee was 50 Lakhs less than the lower retainer that a men’s cricketer would enjoy.

But, Smriti Mandhana isn’t bothered about the pay disparity as she understands the major chunk of the revenue comes from men’s cricket, while also adding that if women’s cricket generated the same revenue, she would be the first one to question the disparity.

“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,” Smriti Mandhana said as quoted by The Hindu.

“I don’t think any of the teammates is 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. 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,” she added.

‘The tri-series will be very important’ – Smriti Mandhana

This is a very important year for Indian Women’s cricket. After suffering hiccups in the knockout stages of the past two ICC events- 50-over World Cup finals and T20 WC semi-finals in 2017 and 2018- the Women in Blue will be hoping to finally breach the final barrier when they lock horns in the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia.

And, the upcoming tri-nation series involving their nemesis England and world champions Australia will be a great opportunity for the Harmanpreet Kaur-led team acclimatize to the conditions.

“Most of them (the players) have played in Australia, so I think with India touring Australia last month, that is also going to be a big help (as) four-five players were part of that team as well. But the tri-series is going to be a really important tournament, thinking about the team composition,” Mandhana said.

The T20I tri-nation series involving India, England and hosts Australia will commence from January 31st.