New Delhi, Sep 1 (IANS) Legendary India fast bowler Jhulan Goswami has hailed the record four-fold increase in overall prize money for the upcoming 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup, calling it a significant boost for women’s cricket.

“I am getting goosebumps. This is a very good thing. I would definitely 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 in this. It will be a boost for the young budding cricketers.”

“It will be a boost for their parents as well, as they can see who can play sports professionally, and it can take them forward. So, I think great news for women’s cricket, and I think this will definitely motivate all the players,” said Jhulan in a video posted on ICC’s Instagram account on Monday.

The upcoming Women’s ODI World Cup will feature a record prize pool of 13.88 million USD, nearly four times the 3.5 million USD on offer during the last edition of the tournament in New Zealand in 2022. The figure also surpasses the 10 million USD pool for the Men’s ODI World Cup held in India in 2023.

The winners of the 13th edition of the tournament will get a cash prize of 4.48 million USD, a 239 per cent increase from the 1.32 million USD awarded to Australia in 2022. The runners-up will receive 2.24 million USD – a 273 per cent rise from the 600,000 USD England earned three years ago. The two losing semifinalists will each take home 1.12 USD million, up from 300,000 USD in the last edition.

Every participating team is guaranteed to receive 250,000 USD, with an additional 34,314 USD awarded for each group-stage win. Teams finishing fifth and sixth at the end of the league stage will earn 700,000 USD apiece, while those in seventh and eighth place will receive 280,000 USD each.

The increase in prize money announcement is in line with the ICC’s strategy to accelerate the growth of women’s cricket, especially after introducing pay parity ahead of the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup. The 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup will commence with India and Sri Lanka facing off in the opening game in Guwahati on September 30.

–IANS

nr/bsk/