Mumbai Cricket Association reveals first-ever central contract with equal pay

The Mumbai Cricket Association on Thursday implemented central contracts with equal pay for both men and women.

This is the first time in the country that a state cricket body has revealed central contract for players.

While the MCA had announced bringing in a contract system for its cricketers in April this year — being the first state association to do so — the governing body said it has finalised the list of players to be handed out the contracts for 2026-2027 season.

“The Apex Council approved and finalised the list of players to be included under the Mumbai Cricket Association’s Player Contract System, as recommended by the selectors,” the MCA said.

"The players have been categorised into Grade A, Grade B and Grade C, with an annual contract amount of Rs 12 lakh for Grade A, Rs 8 lakh for Grade B and Rs 6 lakh for Grade C.”

It was earlier reported that the contracts would vary according to the experience of a player, and the number of formats a player has played or plays for Mumbai.

These contracts have been given only to those players who neither have represented India in the past two seasons, nor have been picked up by any team for a similar duration.

List of MCA contracted players:

Men’s:

Grade A: Siddhesh Lad, Shams Mulani

Grade B: Mohit Awasthi, Aakash Anand, Hardik Tamore

Grade C: Suved Parkar, Sairaj Patil, Himanshu Singh, Jay Jain, Sumeir Zaveri, Atharva Bhosle, Manan Bhat, Ayush Vartak

Women’s:

Grade A: Humaira Kazi, Vrushali Bhagat

Grade B: Sanika Chalke

Grade C: Prakashika Naik, Zeal D’Mello, Fatima Jaffer, Sadhvi Sanjay, Kashish Nirmal

(With inputs from PTI)