Women Cricket On The Rise: A Myth or A Reality?

Gone are the days, when women's cricket was considered to be futile, when readership and viewership of their matches were abysmally low, when Board’s assistance was a sole indicator of their success, when broadcasters were reluctant to telecast matches, when investment in development was locked in the planning process, when half of the remunerations for girls would come from their father’s earnings, when they struggled to stamp their authority in a male-dominated game, when their success wasn’t paid any heed by the cricketing fraternity and above all, the scarcity of Sheroes to emulate for the upcoming generation. Do these questions still hold some relevance after the assured “Rise of Women Cricket” and numerous Initiatives backing it?? Is Women’s Cricket on the Rise, a Myth or a Reality? Let’s find out.

Constructive steps taken by Cricketing Bodies

In the last couple of years, the world has seen a significant turnaround in Women’s Cricket administration. Steps like,

• ICC’s decision to broadcast and live-stream ODI WC’17 across 139 countries to grow global interest in women’s cricket.
• ICC also doubled the prize pool to $2 Million for ODI World Cup 2017 by dedicating the move to a step towards parity with men’s cricket,
• The appointment of PepsiCo Chairwoman & CEO Indra Nooyi as ICC’s independent female director.
• The introduction of ICC Women’s Championship in 2017 and an award for the Best Women’s Cricket Initiative of the Year.

Apart from International Initiatives across the globe, BCCI have also made numerous promises to these young Indian Eves; major steps include:

• BCCI has expanded its upcoming domestic season for women by introducing a T20 and a one-day tournament just before the Women’s T20 World Cup in West Indies for senior as well as U-23 players.
• More India-A tours,
• Hike in Pay for Cricketers - Domestic as well as International,
• They have promised a separate committee for women at BCCI with women delegate and couple of exhibition matches during Men’s IPL.

The success of Kia Super league in Britain, Women’s Big Bash League-3 Down under and 2017 ODI World Cup have unravelled some astronomical figures in stadium attendance as well as on Television. The final of the recently concluded ODI World Cup at Lord's was a sold-out event, first time ever in the history of women’s cricket. The World Cup was consumed by over 180 million people on various digital platforms and saw over three times rise in viewing hours. Still, the prize pool for women at the World up is 500% smaller than the men.

A few points to ponder

Let’s go back a little. Once the World Cup got over, Indian Women didn’t get a single series to play for next 6 months. Despite Star Sports acquiring BCCI international and domestic matches broadcasting rights, there was no broadcast team to be found for India vs England women’s matches at Nagpur, earlier this year. India played 3 ODIs and 5 T20Is in South Africa but none of the matches was telecasted internationally. Women’s Asia Cup T20 also became the victim of the muddle and couldn’t find any broadcaster except for the final match. Whereas the game played on Ice at nearly -50ºC in Switzerland between cricket legends managed to get the broadcasters.

The commencement of women’s T20 matches during IPL was a wonderful step taken by BCCI under the guidance of CoA but it turned out to be an unfulfilled wish which washed away from people’s minds as soon as it surfaced. An event that is arranged in a hurry and isn’t marketed well couldn’t be considered as a success; it should be ideally replicated over the years. A series of three T20s accommodated between Men’s IPL playoffs and the final could have made more impact on the memories of its followers.

Practice matches for India A women with every touring team was arranged on the highest priority, like

• 2 T20s, 1 One-day match with English Women,

• 2 One-dayer with Australian Women,

• 3 One-dayers and 3 T20s with Bangladesh A women team.

An appreciable step towards the revival of India-A tour, yet mere 10-12 matches in a year will not be sufficient for practice. Foreign tours of India-A women would be an extraordinary move for international exposure.

"In a discussion over women’s cricket with Saurashtra’s women team captain Mridula Jadeja, who was amongst the highest run-getters in Senior Women’s T20 League 2016-17, she pointed out various adversities they have gone through in their past and how women’s cricket was seen before it started getting acknowledgement across the hitherto unheard corners of the country."

Domestic Calendar 2018-19

The newly released domestic calendar for the 2018-19 season from BCCI contains no multi-day tournaments or inter-zonal games across all formats and age-groups - Under-19, Under-23 and senior.

Three new tournaments, nonetheless, have been introduced to the season, each of which will comprise four pools of nine teams each. Two Challenger Trophies at the Under-19 and Under-23 age groups have been accommodated into the schedule along with one T20 tournament for the Under-23 age group.

Last year, BCCI took an initiative to conduct Under-16 tournament but, as far as the new schedule is concerned there is no mention of the U-16 matches. If there is no robust structure for these teenagers then there is no guarantee to unveil the upcoming sensation like Jemimah Rodrigues and Radha Yadav.

Lack of popularity of women’s cricket at the university as well as school level is one of the fundamental issues which has to be addressed properly. It affects the participation as well as competitiveness amongst the girls. The more cricket, the more participation. Cricketers over the age of 23 do not have many competitions to play once they are done with the domestic season, only a few of them get to play for IND-A. Senior women hardly get 25-30 days of cricket in a year which is far less than the male counterpart.

On the other end of the spectrum, men either have an opportunity to play for corporates or clubs, so the entire year they are busy with cricketing activities excluding the monsoon season. Most of the state associations now run their own franchise based T20 leagues like TNPL - Tamil Nadu, KPL- Karnataka, and MPL - Mumbai etc, which is also only for men currently.

"In a conversation with Nirali Oza, a right-arm off-break bowler who plays for Saurashtra, I came to know about her frustration over the less number of matches women player get throughout the year. Her frustration was valid as they totally have to rely on the national fixture."

Despite a 30-years long history of Under-19 World Cup, women have still not been introduced to such a magnificent tournament; a minor little push in this segment can do wonders for cricket’s popularity amongst youth.

Being the richest board in the cricket community, BCCI should uphold its responsibility for the development of cricket in the country. The benefits accrued shall come back to the players as they are the assets of the cricket ecosystem.

"I remember while I was having a conversation with Sushree Divyadarshini Pradhan, professional cricketer who plays for Odisha, when we were watching a Women’s T20 Challenge match between IPL Trailblazers and IPL Supernovas at Wankhede Stadium, Divyadarshini politely made a point, “Mithali di covers me achha khelti h” which means Mithali Raj plays well in covers. The very next ball, Mithali caressed the ball through covers despite a decent field set. I was stunned but overwhelmed at the same time."

We can talk over Virat Kohli’s strong Zone, Rohit Sharma’s weak zone from dawn to dusk but do we really care to think about women’s cricket with the same zeal?

Amidst all the challenges and hardships women’s cricket and cricketers are going through, I would urge people to support the beautiful game of cricket and help youngsters to live up to their dream. Spectators should throng the stadiums like recently what people did in support of football at Mumbai. Let the players enjoy the backing of spectators; maybe one day they would rise to the occasion and give their followers the kind of thrilling battles they won’t have imagined of. They may not be where they could have been, but a child doesn't learn walking in a single day, it falls and rises numerous time on its way to walk properly.

I believe, if we could make Kabaddi a great success, Football a distant hope and IPL a brand then we also have the calibre to encourage our girls to take up cricket as a professional sport.

*Data is taken from BCCI’s and ICC's official website