When Harmanpreet Kaur bent down to touch Jay Shah’s feet before lifting the Women's World Cup trophy, it wasn’t just a gesture of respect. It was a story of belief, struggle, and silent transformation.
Today, the world celebrates women’s cricket. Stadiums roar with cheers, young girls dream with open eyes, and finally, the players who were once overlooked are receiving the recognition they always deserved. But long before the applause, before the lights and headlines, there was one man who quietly chose to believe in them - Jay Shah.
Back in 2019, when Jay Shah became the Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the gap between men’s and women’s cricket wasn’t just about performance - it was about pay, respect, and opportunity.
Back then, a female cricketer earned just ₹1 lakh for an ODI match. Her male counterpart earned ₹6 lakh for the same. For Tests, while women cricketers earned ₹2.5 lakh for a match, the men got ₹15 lakh. Not many questioned it. “Women’s cricket doesn’t bring revenue,” they said, and so, the inequality continued.
But Jay Shah wasn’t one to look away. He saw not just players, but pioneers. And in October 2022, under his leadership, came a historic announcement - BCCI’s Pay Equity Policy. India became only the second cricket board in the world, after New Zealand, to pay its men and women players equally. According to the reformed system, women cricketers started earning match fees of ₹15 lakh per Test, ₹6 lakh per ODI and ₹3 lakh per T20I, the same as their men counterparts.
The decision wasn’t met with unanimous praise. Critics questioned the logic, the economics, the sustainability. Yet Shah remained firm. He believed that equality isn’t a reward for revenue, it’s a responsibility. And in that same month, he went a step further and announced the Women’s Premier League (WPL), a platform that would forever change the landscape of women’s cricket in India.
The WPL may not yet match the IPL in scale, but it ignited a spark in thousands of young girls who now dare to dream beyond limits. And those dreams are beginning to bear fruit. So, when Harmanpreet lifted that trophy, her eyes spoke louder than words. Touching Jay Shah’s feet wasn’t just respect, it was gratitude. It was her silent way of saying, “You believed in us, and that’s why we’re here today.” Because behind every great victory lies a greater belief and for India’s women cricketers, that belief had a name - Jay Shah.
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