11 India women cricketers who earned BCCI’s central contract
BCCI has announced the central contract for men’s and women’s cricket team. Altogether 37 players came under the ambit of BCCI’s central contract.
BCCI divided India men into three grades while India women in two grades. In the grade A, four Indian men were kept while the B and C grade have 9 and 12 men players. The grade A players will get 1 crore in the year 2015 and 2016 while B and C grade players will get 50 and 25 lakh respectively.
But, at the same time, the highest wage for Women’s players is 15 lakh. Only four players will have brought under the cap of 15 lakh while other seven will get 10 lakh in the time period between 2015-2016.
So, it was the huge contrast between men’s and women’s team. But, only 11 women cricketers have earned a central contract for one year.
11 women cricketers who have been performing for India consistently earned this contract. Their performances forced BCCI to bring them under the central contract.
Know your women’s cricketers
Grade A
1)Mitali Raj
The Rajasthan girl is the most popular Indian woman cricketer. She is a world class batsman. She is the current Indian women team captain. She has been playing for India since 2002. Mitali scored 5029 runs in 158 matches at an average of 48. 82. She has hit 5 hundreds. She also played 10 Test matches. Her highest Test score is unbeaten 214. She is the first Indian woman cricketer to score 5,000 ODI runs.
2)Jhulan Goswami
A world class allrounder from West Bengal. The Indian pacer woman has taken 173 ODI wickets in 143 ODIs. She also took 40 wickets in Test and T20 respectively. She is the fastest female bowler of the world. She can bowl 120kmph per over consistently. She also has scored 847 runs in ODI. Like Mitali, Jhulan has also been playing for India for 13 years.
Jhulan and Mitali are the faces of India women cricket team.
3)Harmanpreet Kaur
This 26-year-old Punjabi girl is the strong foundation of India’s middle order. She has scored two hundreds. So far, she has played 49 ODIs, 53 T20s and 2 Tests. Her average in ODI is outstanding. She scored 1318 runs at an average of 35.62.
4)Thirush Kamini
The Karnataka girl is a young prospect of Indian women team. She has played 32 ODIs, 2 Tests and 3 T20s. Her Test average is 79.00. In 32 ODIs, she scored 641. Kamini’s 192 against South Africa Women in Mysore Test in November 2014 was the display of her class.
Grade B
5)Smriti Mandana
She is 19. She made her debut in 2014 against Bangladesh women at Ahmedabad. She scored 25 off 35 balls coming at no.3. India won the match by 46 runs. The left-handed batswoman has been a consistent performer so far. In 15 ODIs, she scored 381 runs at an average of 25.40. Her best is 74. She also played two Tests and 10 T20s.
6) Rajeswari Gayakwad
The 24-year-old girl from Bijapur, Karnataka has played 12 ODIs, 6 T20 and 1 Tests. Her total wicket haul is 18 ODIs, 9 in T20 and 5 in Test. Her four-wicket haul against England women in the ICC Women’s Championship was the best bowling figure.
7)Poonam Yadav
The 24-year-old leggie from Agra is one of the biggest prospects of India women team. Yadav, in 11 T20s has taken 19 wickets. She has also played four ODIs and 1 Test match. But, it is her T20 performance that earned her a BCCI contract.
8)Ekta Bist
The left arm spinner from Uttar Pradesh has been performing well for India women. Ekta Bist made her debut in 2014. In 25 ODIs, she has taken 37 wickets. And in 23 T20Is she has taken 22 wickets. In domestic cricket she plays for India Blue and Uttar Pradesh women.
9)Veda Krishnamurthy
The 23-year-old Veda Krishnamurthy has notched up a fifty in her debut match against England in 2011 at Derby, County Ground. Veda is a middle order batsman. She, so far, has played 20 T20s and 14 ODIs.
10)Niranjana Nagarajan
The Tamil Nadu medium pacer made her debut in 2014. So far she has taken 24 wickets in ODI and 9 wickets in T20. She has played four Tests and has taken 4 wickets. She is a railway employee. Her passion for the game has grown up since the age of 10.
11)Poonam Raut
She is the only Mumbai girl to have earned a BCCI central contract. The 26-year-old opener made her debut in 2014 against England. She played two Test matches and scored 146 runs. Her best score in Test is 130 which came against South Africa at Mysore. Her gutsy batting display was seen in limited over cricket. In 36 matches, she has scored 880 runs at an average of 25.14. And in T20, she has played 35 matches and scored 719 runs at an average of 27.65. Her highest in T20 is 75 against Bangladesh women at Vadodara.