The BCCI has announced an increase in prize money for the domestic tournaments, with the Ranji Trophy winners set to receive a whopping cash reward of INR 5 crore this year.
According to the new pay structure, the Ranji Trophy winners, who currently get INR Rs 2 crore, will receive INR 5 crore, while the runners-up and losing semi-finalists will get INR 3 crore and INR 1 crore respectively.
"I'm pleased to announce an increase in prize money for all @BCCI Domestic Tournaments," BCCI secretary Jay Shah said in a tweet.
The cash prize for Irani Cup too has been doubled with the winners getting INR 50 lakh instead of INR 25 lakh, and while the team finishing runners-up recently didn't receive any cash reward, they will get INR 25 lakh from now.
In the Duleep Trophy, the champions will get INR 1 crore and runners-up will be receiving INR 50 lakh, while winners of Vijay Hazare Trophy will now get INR 1 crore and the team finishing second best INR 50 lakh.
The Deodhar Trophy winners are set to get richer by INR 40 lakh while the losing finalists will get INR 20 lakh. Meanwhile, the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy champions will be receiving INR 80 lakh while the losing team will get INR 40 lakh.
In a big boost to women's cricket in the country, the winners of the Senior Women's One Day trophy will get INR 50 lakh and the runners-up will receive INR 25 lakh.
The prize money of the senior women's T20 trophy has also been increased with the winners set to get INR 40 lakh, eight times more than what they get now. The losing team will get INR 20 lakh.
The Duleep Trophy, which will be played among six zonal teams, will be followed by the List A Deodhar Trophy (July 24 to August 3), Irani Cup (October 1-5), Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Men's T20s (October 16-November 6) and Vijay Hazare Trophy (November 23-December 15).
The senior women's season will begin with the national T20 tournament to be played between October 19 to November 9, followed by Inter-Zonal T20 Trophy from November 24 to December 4.