Mumbai: The world cup-winning Indian women’s cricket team will receive a cash prize of Rs 51 crores, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced.
The team, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, crushed South Africa by 52 runs in the final of ICC Women’s ODI World Cup at the D Y Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Sunday evening. This was the first ODI World Cup victory for the Indian women’s side though they had reached the finals in 2005 and 2017.
The victory brought cheer to Indians with congratulatory messages flowing in from President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several chief ministers as well as members of the men’s cricket team.
The BCCI reward of Rs 51 crores is much higher than the prize money India will receive from the International Cricket Council (ICC). The team will be receiving USD 4.48 million, which roughly translates to Rs 39.78 crores, from the ICC.
BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia confirmed to news agency ANI that the Board will be giving the women’s team a prize of Rs 51 crores as it wants to show its appreciation for winning a competitive tournament like the World Cup.
“Definitely, we have to thank Jay Shah, who is the chair of ICC, because just one month prior to this tournament, they increased the prize money of the ICC Women’s World Cup. That is, there is an upshot of about 300 per cent of the prize money,” Saikia said.
“That is for the teams to receive it. But the BCCI is related at their wonderful performance at the D Y Patil Stadium, where they defeated South Africa to win the championship. Without touching anything from the ICC’s kitty, BCCI on its own is going to pay a reward of 51 crores to the Indian team. That amount will go to the players, the selectors as well as the support staff headed by Amol Muzumdar,” he added.
India outplayed South Africa in all three departments of the game, and this was the main reason behind the side lifting their maiden World Cup title.
The Proteas won the toss and opted to bowl first. India posted 298 runs on the board owing to Shafali Verma’s 87-run knock. South Africa skipper Laura Wolvaardt then answered back with a century; however, the knock went in vain as Deepti Sharma took five wickets, setting up India’s 52-run win.