The BCCI has announced equal pay for men’s and women’s centrally contracted cricket players in India, which is an unprecedented move.

The BCCI announced on Thursday that all centrally contracted players for Team India’s men’s and women’s teams would get equal pay. The news was made on Twitter by BCCI Secretary Jay Shah. “I’m pleased to launch the first anti-prejudice initiative by BCCI. For the female cricket players who are under contract with us, we are putting in place a pay equity policy. The matched price will be the same for male and female players as we usher in a new era of gender equality in Indian cricket.” tweeted Shah.

Under the current arrangement, Harmanpreet Kaur and company will get the same match money as their male counterparts: $15 lakh for each Test, $6 lakh for each ODI, and $3 lakh for each T20I “The female cricketers will receive the same match money as their male counterparts. Tests ($15,000,000), ODIs ($6,000,000), and T20Is ($15,000) (INR 3 lakhs). Pay equity was a commitment I made to our female cricket players, and I appreciate the Apex Council’s support.” He added.

The Indian women’s team recently won the Asia Cup in Bangladesh after beating Sri Lanka in the championship match in Sylhet by an 8-wicket margin. They also earned India’s first-ever medal in cricket from the Commonwealth Games earlier this year in Birmingham. Australia won the gold medal match against the Harmanpreet Kaur-led squad.

Since India’s performance in the 2017 Women’s ODI World Cup in England, where they lost to the hosts in the championship match, the popularity of women’s cricket has skyrocketed in India.

2019 will see the debut of the first-ever women’s IPL with five franchises, the BCCI said at its most recent AGM earlier this month in Mumbai.

While Cricket Australia (CA) is also working to address gender inequality, earlier this year New Zealand Cricket (NZC) and the country’s players’ organization came to an agreement that enabled the country’s female cricket players to receive salaries on par with those of the men’s players.