Jhulan Goswami hails increase in prize money for Women’s World Cup, says ‘getting goosebumps’

MUMBAI: The International Cricket Council has announced a massive increase in prize money for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025, which is set to take place later this month in India and Sri Lanka.

The marquee event’s overall prize pool has risen to 13.88 million USD, marking a whopping 297 per cent increase from the previous edition held in 2022 in New Zealand. This also sees the total prize pot eclipse the men’s event, which had a prize pool of 10 million USD in 2023.

Former India player Jhulan Goswami was elated about the announcement on The ICC Review during her first appearance on the ICC Hindi Instagram channel, where she will also be featuring regularly in the lead-up to the tournament.

“I am getting goosebumps. The increased prize money is a very good thing,” Goswami said on the historic announcement as quoted by ICC.

“I would like to thank ICC from my side. The way they have thought of this, I think definitely women’s cricket will get a lot of boost. And for budding women’s cricketers’ parents, too. It is a reassurance that this sport can be played professionally and taken forward. So, I think this is great news for women’s cricket, and I think this will definitely motivate all the players as well,” she added.

Jhulan is the leading wicket-taker in the tournament’s history, with 43 scalps in 34 matches at an average of 21.74, with best figures of 4/16.

The winners of the tournament will take home 4.48 million USD, while the runners-up will receive 2.24 million USD, with both amounts reflecting an increase of more than 200 per cent from the 2022 edition. Both losing semifinalists will receive 1.12 million USD each, while every group-stage participant is guaranteed 250,000 USD.

The fifth and sixth-placed teams will take home 700,000 USD each, and the seventh and eighth-placed sides will earn 280,000 USD each. In addition, every group-stage victory will fetch the winning team 34,414 USD.

This marks another significant milestone in the ICC’s drive to amplify the growth of women’s cricket and to establish pay parity with the men’s game as announced ahead of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024.

The tournament is set to begin on September 30 with India taking on Sri Lanka in Guwahati. The two semifinals are scheduled for October 29 and 30 with the showpiece final set to be played on November 2. (ANI)