Tigresses set for salary hike

The working commitee of the Bangladesh Cricket Board [BCB] has proposed a revised salary structure along with a few other major proposals for the Bangladesh women's national team cricketers during a meeting that took place in the capital yesterday.

As per the proposed new salary structure, the cricketers will be divided into four categories according to monthly salaries of Tk 20,000, Tk 30,000, Tk 40,000 and Tk 50,000. The working commitee has also proposed to include insurance policies for the women's team similar to the ones already in place for the men's team. The BCB is also planning to stage a domestic women's T20 tournament in the coming days.

According to Enayet Hossain Siraj, the chairman of the BCB's working committee, the proposed academy in Chittagong by the National Sports Council will also be dedicated fully to women's cricket.

There have been a lot of talk over the negligence of Bangladesh women's cricketers after Salma Khatun and her troops clinched the Women's T20 Asia Cup by beating six-time champions India in the final in Malaysia on Sunday.

However, Siraj insisted that the board has been working hard over the past few years to improve the lot of women cricketers in Bangladesh and that the talk about women cricketers being neglected were not true.

"We have not found any negligence over women's cricket after assessing all aspects. There has been a lot of talk about the board not doing anything for the improvement of women's cricket, which is not true. The Asia Cup win would not have happened if the BCB did not give importance to women's cricket. The women's team undergoing a long training camp under foreign coaching staff and physio was the reflection of what we have invested," Siraj told The Daily Star over phone yesterday.