New Delhi, Nov 15: The yawning gap never really bothered her as it was “driven by market forces” but India captain Harmanpreet Kaur believes the BCCI men’s and women’s central contracts will now be closer in value following her team’s path-breaking ODI World Cup triumph.

BCCI brought the match fee of women cricketers at par with men in 2022 but when it comes to central contracts, the numbers are not worth a comparison. However, Harmanpreet’s teammate Smriti Mandhana has long believed that the payment structure is driven by market forces and the skipper agrees with that view.

The cricketers in the men’s top tier are paid Rs 7 crore annually while the women are paid Rs 50 lakh.

“It will change now (the value of the central contracts). That’s what I feel. A lot of changes came after 2017 (

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