Not bothered about pay gap: Mandhana

“I don't think any of the teammates is
thinking about this (pay) gap because the only focus right now is to win
matches for India, get the crowd coming in, get the revenue,” said Smriti
Mandhana, addressing question about the pay gap between male and female cricketers.

“That is the thing which we are aiming for
and if that happens all other things are going to fall in place. And for that,
we need to perform. It is unfair on our part to say that we need same pay, it
is not right. So I don't think I want to comment on that gap.”

The BCCI annual retainership were recently announced, where a male cricketer in the top bracket stands to earn INR 7 crore while a female one in the same bracket gets INR 50 lakh.

Talking about it further, she said that she
isn’t bothered getting a pay cheque lower than her male counterparts since the
revenue is generated mostly through men’s cricket. “We need to understand that
the revenue which we get is through men's cricket. The day women's cricket
starts getting revenue, I will be the first person to say that we need the same
thing. But right now, we can't say that,” said India’s T20I vice-captain.

The focus of the team is currently on the Women’s T20 World Cup that gets underway next month. Before that, India, England and Australia feature in a tri-series in Australia, starting from Friday (January 31).

“Most of them (the players) have played in
Australia, so I think with India A touring Australia last month, that is also
going to be a big help (as) four-five players were part of that team as well,”
she said. "But the tri-series is going to be a really important
tournament, thinking about the team composition.”

Two teenagers in Shafali Verma and the uncapped Richa Ghosh are a part of the side for the global tournament. Mandhana asserts that they are getting good tips from WV Raman, the coach. “One thing he told first is to try and play 30 overs in ODIs and 12 overs in T20 and you will end up getting a big score. But to get a big score, you need to be there (at the crease)... It is helpful to work with Raman Sir.”