As talked in my recent blogs, I covered about the roots and hurdles of women cricketers in that time. So let’s move on to what the current scenario holds up-to. Everything changes with time, that is the rule of the universe and it implements everywhere. Fortunately the evolution we waited for finally made its way to the women’s’ cricket .
Today, Indian women’s cricket has come a long way. The old hatchets have been buried and the current generation of players is undoubtedly famous. So far, the 21st Century has been an era of great advancement for women’s cricket in particular and women’s sport in general. In cricket, wealthy cricket boards have offered elite women players professional contracts. Professionalization has meant that standards have improved in women’s cricket. Contemporary women cricketers are fitter, stronger, more skillful and arguably more experienced cricketers than their predecessors from the 1960s and ’70s. They tour more often and more widely than ever before. They draw talent from more competitive domestic leagues than ever before. . After all, women’s cricket is more fashionable now than it has ever been.
2017 World Cup was a wake-up call for BCCI. From getting their due attention to lucrative deals from the famous brands, India team was successful to make a revolution by their performances and their dedication and hard work paid off. In the 2017 Women’s Cricket World Cup, India were the runners-up in the final against England. In the semi-final, Harmanpreet Kaur’s swashbuckling innings of 171 ensured that Australia lost—for the first time in Women’s World Cup history—to India. BCCI started taking more care of the Women’s Cricket and made the calendar for the ICC Women’s Championship (2017-20) where India had won against South Africa, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and England. On the domestic front, BCCI added Under 23 league and increased the number of games. With these increasing numbers of game, the domestic structure has also been evolving for fair talent hunt across the country.
Mithali Raj, captain of the current Test and ODI teams, says the situation today is much improved. However, there is some way to go still for the women’s game. “At the domestic level, the payment is not at the level of the men’s Ranji players but it is a work in progress; with the coming of the Women’s IPL (Indian Premier League), that situation should improve,” Raj says. Progress, she believes, will be slow but sure. “Things like player contracts and match fees are in place, but there is still room. In a few years, I think we will get to a situation where women’s cricket will be highly marketable and we will slowly get to the level of other international sports.” Our women in blue have been also featured in foreign cricket leagues like WBBL , KSL- Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana got the chance to play in Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) and Kia Super League (KSL). Along with them, Veda Krishnamurthy also featured in WBBL in one season.
In 2017, Australian Women’s Cricket Team aka the Southern Stars, have finally been recognized for their efforts in a sport that Australia has championed for the past decade. Cricket Australia has been the founding board to have taken this path-breaking step towards promotion of women’s cricket, by giving the women’s team equal pay. Recently the news has surfaced that England cricket board is planning to boost its investment by spending upto 50 million pounds to develop women’s cricket over the next 5 years in their country and that is huge and equally deserving to the talent.
Last year, one exhibition Women’s T20 Challenge was played in Mumbai, comprised of two teams – the Supernovas and the Trailblazers, Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana leading the teams respectively. Both the teams had a mix of Indian and International players. The international players like Suzie Bates, Sophie Devine, Meg Lanning, Ellyse Perry, Alyssa Healy, Danielle Wyatt etc. played with India’s Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Deepti Sharma, Poonam Yadav etc. The match was a test whether Women’s T20 challenge is feasible or not. The game had a nail- biting last-ball end and it was telecast by the board’s host broadcaster. Attendance was poor at the ground, starting might be a cause as the game had a 2 pm start and a consecutive men’s match scheduled on the same day. However the same T20 league was played this year, besides of a third team which was captained by Mithali Raj in Jaipur, and this gets improving. There was speculation during the 2019 IPL period that royal challengers have initiated a mixed- gender match being played in the country which could have been a big step towards the people’s perception of watching cricket but unfortunately, it didn’t happen and the reason is yet not clear behind its cancellation.
Recently, if you followed women’s cricket even a little bit you must have come across the news that the South Africa women’s team is here to play T20I’s and ODI’s and this has been such a positive. 5 T20I’s were played in Surat out of which a couple of matches were abandoned due to rains and what exemplary step was taken by BCCI to schedule the washed -out matches in rest days before the ODI’s. The attendance in Surat’s stadium was exceptionally impressive, the whole stadium was filled which clearly shows that our girls are on the right path and the talent is being appreciated.
In a landmark announcement, the BCCI has revised the annual central contract of Indian women cricketers, making it the highest ever annual retainer fee in the women’s category globally. The central contract, however is only the beginning of the golden period While the decision to include women cricketers in the central contract is a fresh start towards the success platform at an international level, this will not only improve women’s cricket infrastructure but will also add up to at the international level in terms of performance and parity. India is higher in terms of retainer fee with a contract signed under $76000 (Rs. 50 lakhs) for Grade A players. Witnessing the increasing number of advertisements, sponsor-ships and various other promotional opportunities for the players, the Indian Women’s team is fast gaining a fit and wealthy status amidst the global scenario.
So far the journey of women’s cricket has been a roller- coaster ride and its finally catching the right track. The good days are not so far and we must consider ourselves lucky to have to get the chance to witness such a positive development here and let’s appreciate all of it. Hope you are liking my blogs, Stay tuned for the final post of this series.
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