India women players finally set to receive T20 World Cup prize money

Nearly 15 months after they finished runners-up in the T20 World Cup, the India Women squad will finally receive its share of the prize money amounting to USD 500,000 (INR 3.5 crore approximately). ESPNcricinfo has learned that the BCCI on Monday asked the players to raise invoices to get their shares.

The development comes a day after the UK publication The Telegraph revealed that the squad had not yet been paid its prize money despite other teams including Australia, who won the World Cup, receiving theirs soon after the tournament was over.

ESPNcricinfo has learned that the ICC disbursed the prize money to the BCCI last March, around a week after the World Cup final, which was played in front of a record 86,174 spectators on International Women's Day (March 8) at the MCG.

When asked for a comment, BCCI officials told ESPNcricinfo they have no knowledge of the reason behind the delay. ESPNcricinfo confirmed the delay with more than one player and support staff member who were part of the India squad led by Harmanpreet Kaur.

The delay raised eyebrows because the BCCI is learned to have disbursed all other payments owed to the players since March 2020. This includes three instalments of their central contracts fee for 2019-20, match fees, and appearance fees for the Women's T20 Challenge in Sharjah last November. Recently the players are understood to have submitted their invoices for match fees for the limited-overs home series against South Africa in March 2021. The payments are still awaited, though.

Incidentally the BCCI is learned to have distributed the prize money allocated by the ICC to the India team that finished runners-up in the 2020 Men's Under-19 World Cup, which was won by Bangladesh last February in South Africa. The Women's T20 World Cup took place only a few weeks later. According to The Telegraph, the victorious Australia Women players received their share of the prize money amounting to USD 1.6 million soon after the tournament.