India women cricketers' prize money from 2020 T20 World Cup yet to be paid: Report

Indian women’s cricketers have still not been paid the prize money from the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020, where the Women in Blue, reached the final 14 months ago. Upon reaching the summit clash, where India Women lost to Australia in a capacity crowd of more than 86,000 at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground, the Indian women’s cricketers should have received a collective amount of $500,000 (£350,000).

According to The Telegraph, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) holds the entire prize-money pot awarded to the Indian cricketers. The CEO of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations, Tom Moffat said that they were made aware of the issue in August 2020 and reached out to the International Cricket Council (ICC) and Indian players about the same.

"Prize money is payable to players for their on-field performance in pinnacle events and the late non-payment of money owing to players is unacceptable," Moffat told Telegraph Sport.

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"We encourage players in India to consider getting organised as part of a players’ association so they, and the game in India, can benefit from collective player representation in the same way that their fellow professionals around the world do."

While the ICC is responsible for paying the prize money within a week of the tournament's end, the prize money is usually directed to the team’s governing bodies, unless the board asks the ICC to pay the players directly.

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If the prize money is split evenly between 15 players in India’s World Cup squad, the Indian women’s cricketers would have bagged about $33,000 each.

However, the BCCI still hasn’t reacted on the report and a reaction is awaited from their side.