BCCI announced the annual contract of the Indian womens cricket team, three players bagged a Grade A contract.
The Indian womens cricket team has been playing very good cricket over the last few years. They have done well in the last few multi nation’s tournaments and made their nations proud.
BCCI has also now giving attention to women’s cricket in India for some time now. They have given lots of opportunities to women cricketers and started some new domestic tournaments for the betterment of women’s cricket in India.
BCCI has started the same pay for both men’s and women’s cricket in the contract. BCCI has announced this year’s central contract of the Indian womens cricket team which includes 17 players across three grades (grades A, B, and C).
Grade A has only three players this time
Three players; captain Harmanpreet Kaur, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana, and all-rounder Deepti Sharma have been given the Grade A contract. All three players have been doing well for the Indian cricket team and they are an integral part of the side.
Two players dropped from Grade A this year
All three players (Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur, and Deepti Sharma) get the reward for their good performances. Although, two players ( Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Poonam Yadav) are dropped from the Grade A category.
Maybe because of their poor run in international cricket. R Gayakwad is now a part of Grade B and Poonam Yadav misses out on a central contract from the BCCI.
Some new faces in Grade B
Youngsters like Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, and Shafali Verma make the cut into Grade B. In fact, the former two, along with R Thakur were a part of Grade C last year. And now they have been rewarded for their good run in international cricket. All three players have done well in the 2022 Women’s World Cup and the 2023 T20 World Cup. There are a total of 5 players in Grade B.
Most players are in Grade C
Grade C sees the most number of players; being 9. In the Grade C category, Meghna Singh, Devika Vaidya, Sabbineni Meghana, Anjali Sarvani, Radha Yadav, and Yastika Bhatia are among the newcomers who have received their first central contract. Sneh Rana and Harleen Deol remain on the list, although Pooja Vastrakar receives a grade reduction.
Mithali Raj and J Goswami not in the list
For obvious reasons, both the legendary cricketers (M Raj and J Goswami) are not there in the BCCI annual contract list. Both announced their retirements over the course of last year after serving India’s women’s cricket team for so long.
The Indian ladies had a fantastic year in international cricket last year. They recovered from their failure to advance past the group stages of the Women’s World Cup 2022 by reaching the final of the inaugural Commonwealth Games cricket competition, winning the silver medal, and then making it to the final four of the Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa earlier this year. They lost to Australia in the final of the Commonwealth Games.
Indian womens cricket team’s annual contract by the BCCI (Full List)
Grade A (3 players)-
Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma
Grade B (5 players)-
Renuka Thakur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh, Rajeshwari Gayakwad
Grade C (9 players)-
Meghna Singh, Devika Vaidya, Sabbineni Meghana, Anjali Sarvani, Pooja Vastrakar, Sneh Rana, Radha Yadav, Harleen Deol, Yastika Bhatia
The Indian womens cricket team players were busy playing in the inaugural season of the Women’s Premier League (WPL). As of now, there are no fixtures decided for the Indian Women’s cricket team.
Womens cricket has been growing over the years in India and around the world. It will be exciting to see how the Indian team goes in the future. They have a very good and settled team.
Who is your favorite Indian women’s cricketer? Comment your answer below.
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