India’s trophy drought at ICC tournaments may end later this year in the forthcoming T-20 Cricket World Cup for Women to be held in Bangladesh, if Indian women cricketers continue to exhibit their cricketing skills in the same manner as they have done during the recently concluded Women’s Premier League (WPL). Things are looking up for women’s cricket in India as in a competition where only the world’s best women cricketing talents get a chance to play, six Indian cricketers have found a place in the top ten run-scorers’ list, while there are five Indians in the list of top ten bowlers. Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur’s century, Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh’s emergence as hard-hitting batters, clearing the ground at will, rise of off-spinner Shreyanka Patil, all-round performances by Deepti Sharma and Yastika Bhatia — are all indicative of the fact that a strong Indian women cricket team is in the making, ready to take on the strongest teams in the world. No words of praise are sufficient for these stellar sportspersons, who have taken women’s cricket in the country to such a height, overcoming all social barriers. Hopefully, their good showing makes the life of aspiring women cricketers in the country much easier. It may sound strange, but the fact remains that over 29 thousand spectators gathered at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi, while there were not more than 10 thousand spectators on any of the four playing days in this year’s Ranji Trophy final at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, despite the home team winning the trophy. It shows that women’s cricket is fast gaining popularity in a country, which even in the 21st century is infamous for gender discrimination.
It’s a pity that in India where cricket has a huge cult following, women cricketers have been subjected to gender discrimination since its introduction in 1974, which was declared as ‘international women’s year’ by the United Nations (UN). Since then, it has been a struggle for women’s cricket in India as no one was interested in promoting the game. The situation remained the same even after the apex body of women’s cricket in India merged with the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI), one of the richest sporting organisations in the world. It’s ironic that even after BCCI took on the responsibility of promoting the game, women cricketers have had to wait for very long to get pay equal to their male counterparts. The pay disparity was removed only when Sourav Ganguly, the former Indian captain, took over the reins of BCCI. It was also during Ganguly’s tenure as BCCI’s president that the Indian cricket board decided to start WPL, a franchise-based women’s cricket competition in line with the Indian Premier League (IPL), which has become a huge hit within two years of its inception. It’s now up to the BCCI to further popularise women’s cricket in the country by supporting them full heartedly and helping them make India proud in the coming years.
