BCCI president Sourav Ganguly had promised to look after the financial health of first-class cricketers as his “biggest priority” on assuming office in October 2019. On Monday, the BCCI decided to substantially hike the match fees of domestic cricketers, both men and women, at its apex council meeting.

The new pay structure, which will be in place 2021-22 onwards, will have the senior men earning between Rs 40,000 and Rs 60,000 per day while senior women will earn up to Rs 20,000 per day. In addition, it was also decided to allot 50 per cent match fees “as compensation” for the pandemic-affected 2019-20 season as the BCCI could only host the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy and the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy.

The new pay structure will apply to both first-class and limited-overs cricketers.

The increase in pay packet won’t be much for players who fall under the 20 matches category (Rs 40,000 per day). But it will be an almost 100 per cent hike — Rs 60,000 per day — for those in the playing XI above the 40-plus games category. Those who have played between 21 and 40 matches will earn Rs 50,000 per day.

Earlier, senior men’s cricketers earned Rs 35,000 per day for first-class and one-day games, and Rs 17,500 per game for T20s.

The reserve players’ fees have been increased to Rs 20,000 per day for those below 20 games, Rs 25,000 per day for those between 21 and 40 matches, and Rs 30,000 per day for those who fall in the above 40 games bracket.

The senior women’s domestic players in the playing XI will now receive Rs 20,000 per day instead of the previous figure of Rs 12,500, while the reserves will be paid Rs 10,000 as against their previous Rs 6,250.

The under-23 men’s players will now earn Rs 25,000 per day (earlier Rs 17,500) if they are in the playing XIs, and Rs 12,500 (earlier Rs 8,750) if in the reserves. The under-19 cricketers in the playing XI will get Rs 20,000 (earlier Rs 10,500) per day while those in the reserves will be richer by Rs 10,000 (earlier Rs 5,250). For the under-16s, the amounts are Rs 7,000 per day (earlier Rs 3,500) for those in the playing XI and Rs 3,500 (earlier Rs 1,750) for the reserves.

For women, the daily remuneration for under-23, under-19 and under-16 has been raised from Rs 5,500 to Rs 10,000 for those in the playing XIs and from Rs 2,750 to Rs 5,000 per day for those in the reserves.

Sexual harassment

Indian cricketers have been brought under the BCCI’s Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) policy.