In a landmark decision, the BCCI on Thursday announced equal match fee for its centrally-contracted female and male players in a bid to promote gender equality in the country's most popular sport.BCCI secretary Jay Shah took to Twitter to announce the significant development.

"I'm pleased to announce @BCCI's first step towards tackling discrimination. We are implementing pay equity policy for our contracted @BCCIWomen cricketers."The match fee for both Men and Women Cricketers will be same as we move into a new era of gender equality in Cricket," Shah tweeted. Women's skipper described the announcement as red letter day in India's women's cricket.

As per the newly introduced system, the Indian women's cricketers will now receive Rs 15 lakh per Test, Rs 6 lakh per ODI, and Rs 3 lakh per T20I, the same as their male counterparts. Earlier this year, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) had struck a deal with the country's players' association, which enabled the women cricketers to earn as much as the male players, while Cricket Australia (CA) is also working to do away with gender disparity.