India should nurture women’s cricket

Every time the women’s team has journeyed to a Cup final, there has been renewed hope that things will finally change for women’s cricket.

Finalists in 2005. Finalists in 2017. Never won. That’s India’s record at the Women’s One Day International (ODI) World Cup. Despite not having won a trophy, the fact that the team has played two ODI World Cup finals — and a T20 World Cup final —is testament to the grit, ambition and skills of India’s women cricketers. Why? Because women’s cricket is neglected in India — cricket’s epicentre in terms of popularity and finances.

Women’s cricket is neglected in India — cricket’s epicentre in terms of popularity and finances.  (BCCI)

Every time the women’s team has journeyed to a Cup final, there has been renewed hope that things will finally change for women’s cricket. No luck. The women’s team, for example, went an entire year without playing a match post the 2020 World Cup final (the pandemic was only partly to blame, since male cricketers played many matches, including the Indian Premier League). There isn’t even an IPL-style T20 league for women in India. There is no national Under-16 tournament or a coordinated junior programme to pick talent early. The pay gap between the women’s and men’s national cricketers is so wide that it’s laughable to even compare.

Meanwhile, the Australian women’s cricket team — riding on domestic tournaments, a thoughtful grassroots system, the world’s best women’s T20 league and equal infrastructure for men and women national teams — has shown what investment in a sport can do. The team went on a 26-ODI winning spree, the best such streak by any team, men’s or women’s, between 2018 and 2021. The streak was halted by India. When Mithali Raj, the highest run-getter in women’s cricket, leads her team in what will be her fifth World Cup, she would be hoping, yet again, that things will change for them back home.