Women’s Cricket In India- What does the Future Hold?
“Women are the real architects of society.”
This is a famous quote by Harriet Beecher Stowe, a famous American author and abolitionist. This saying, though decades old, is finding its true meaning today, where women are proving time and again to the world that they are no less and are creating their own impression in the society with their works, thus proving why they must be taken into serious consideration.
Just about a week ago, the ICC Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup 2020 came to an end and the Indian Women’s Cricket Team made the whole nation proud by making it to the finals of the tournament, a feat which they have not been able to achieve ever before. Unfortunately, the ladies couldn’t bring the trophy home but their performance in the tournament proved to be a game-changer in the country as far as women’s cricket is considered.
In a country where cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli are considered as legends of men’s cricket, very few people know of women cricketers like Mithali Raj, Smrithi Mandana or Harmanpreet Kaur. When the men’s team wins matches, the whole country applauds. However, when it comes to the women’s team, only one out of thousand people in the nation would even know that such a victorious match has occurred. It is such a shame that in a country with cricket being a prime sport viewed by 93% of the population, equal importance is not given to the development of men’s and women’s cricket.
However, with a finalist finish in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2017 (50 Overs) and ICC Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup 2020 (20 Overs), women’s cricket is garnering the attention it most deservingly needs. Though the 50 Over World Cup was not much talked about, the recently concluded 20 Over World Cup gained a lot of attention in the country, mainly through media, with people talking about how India defeated many of the more fancied teams in the competition on its road to the final. More importantly, there are young women who have expressed their desire to play like Shafali Verma, a 16 year old cricketer who impressed one and all with her ability to hit the ball cleanly. People are also talking about Poonam Yadav, a legbreak bowler who bamboozled most batters with her googlies. These are just some examples, although all the players who played in the tournament are still receiving praise for their stupendous performance.
The ICC Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup 2020 saw a stupendous growth in viewership. In a first for women’s cricket, matches were broadcasted by Star Sports in five languages- English, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada and Telugu, with a growth of 39% in viewership reported, as compared to the previous edition of the same tournament. These are positive signs for women’s cricket and it gives the indication that women’s cricket is slowly getting cherished in the country in the same way as men’s cricket.
Though growth of women’s cricket is slowly getting on track, there still remain many challenges. Though times have changed, most Indian families will not allow women to play the sport unless there is a change in their mindset. Also, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the governing body of cricket in India, has not taken enough measures to promote women’s cricket as much as men’s cricket in the country.
Another point which has to be taken note of is the inequality in payment of men and women cricketers. As in other occupations, inequality in pay exists in the cricketing world too. While cricketers in the women’s team who come in the grade A contract of the BCCI, like Smrithi Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur and Poonam Yadav, are paid INR 50 Lakh per year; cricketers in the men’s team who come in the grade A+ contract of the BCCI are paid INR 7 Crore per year. Though a lot of dissent has been raised against this inequality in pay, the BCCI hasn’t paid any heed to these issues.
Let’s hope that these problems are resolved and in the future we will see more women cricketers out there on the field determined to make the country proud with more audience to applaud their efforts. It is high time that we understand how much of an asset women are to the nation and the growth of women’s cricket in India would be a mammoth step in this direction.
