Why should boys have all the fun?

This is the 21st century. Today, we see women succeed in every field. Women's rights are stressed upon in each sector. The traditional/sexist notions about women playing second fiddle to men have abated. In reality, things have not drastically changed, but with each generation we see a better picture painted for women.

Yes, we still see cases where certain misogynistic people enforce their outdated principles on women. This background was just to highlight how long we have had the women’s cricket team play under the shadow cast by the men’s team.

Personally, I am disappointed with myself. Despite being a cricket fan, I have not watched or followed women’s cricket in the past. That is until this year where the World Cup matches were broadcast on Star Sports. I enjoyed watching Women’s World Cup 2017 (WWC 2017) more than the recently concluded Champions Trophy (played by men). I am not sure whether the declining popularity of the Champions Trophy has something to do with it. Since I had not watched many women's games before, I had absolutely no baggage.

Many reasons contributed to the new interest in women’s cricket. I have listed some of them below.

Role of ICC

The ICC recently initiated a lot of activities to promote women’s cricket. WWC 2017 is the first World Cup where every match was broadcast live. WWC 2017’s total fund allocation was more than twice of the prev edition. The ICC also announced plans for a blueprint to grow the women’s game, including proposals for further parity with men’s cricket.

The final, which was a full house at Lord’s, is a testament to the popularity of the game. This will surely go down as a massively successful tournament for the ICC.

Role of media

Cricket discussions are commonplace at my home and among my few close friends. Water-cooler discussions at my office in the last few days featured the WWC 2017. It was surprising that many people around me thought that this was the first ever Women’s World Cup. I had to correct them with the phrase – “this is the first World Cup that has been broadcast.”

Although the media has more often than not come under the scanner for not doing their job, this was not the case in this WWC. Star Sports (including Hotstar) has a strong Indian fan base when it comes to cricket, something that has expanded after they broadcast key matches of the WWC. Even newspapers have not shied away from covering the tournament extensively.

Indian women's cricket team

Mithali Raj has been the Indian women's team's flag-bearer for years

The likes of Anjum Chopra, Mithali Raj, Punam Raut and Jhulan Goswami have achieved a lot in last two decades. Yes, I only knew these names until this World Cup. But now, we have a Mandhana who scores hundreds at the top, a certain Harmanpreet who bludgeons each ball she faces, and an all-rounder in the form of Deepti Sharma. The list is growing with each match. Their recent performances have added a sense of excitement among all the fans. The team have shown their capability, be it fast bowling, spin bowling, fielding or batting.

The four-match win streak at the start of the tournament raised hopes of qualifying for the playoffs. Although they lost in the finals, it gave the team the experience of playing in a high-pressure situation, which I feel we lacked until this tournament.

My take

2017 is definitely the turning point for women’s cricket. It seems the wheels are in motion as the ICC is taking the required steps towards promoting games. In India, the advent of the IPL helped popularize the sport among the children and female community. We saw an exponential surge in the number of women following cricket.

Australia has a Women's BBL. When will India follow suit?

We might stretch our imaginations and wonder whether a separate IPL for women will ever take shape. It would definitely help scout for talent and push more girls towards cricket. Or will the current version of the IPL be tweaked to incorporate women? Some of the readers might raise their eyebrows at that suggestion. But who are we to stop them, frankly?

India still has a long way to go to match the Australian or English women in terms of achievements. The BCCI may as well study their model a similar culture in India.

Cricket 361° strongly feels that women’s cricket has promise, both as a sport and as a business model.

Finally, the tweet given below indicates the popularity of the WWC in India.

Before #WWC17 began, #MithaliRaj had about 7000+ followers on Twitter. Today she has 143K+. Some indication of how the tournament took off.

— Saurabh Somani (@saurabh_42) July 24, 2017

This article was originally published on the blog 'Cricket 361'. The original post can be found here.