WPL: A Season Of Plenty, And Equality, For Women’s Cricket

“I can be mahogany,” Mithali Raj says in a hair product advertisement.

“I can be a cricketer,” girls all over India would be saying after the announcement of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) and the success of women players.

It feels like the heady, pre-IPL days of 2007-08 in men’s cricket.

That season, the Indian men’s team won the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa. The format, till then little more than an English weekend pastime, became a hit. Lalit Modi and the BCCI capitalized on it and launched the IPL a few months later.

A similar euphoria now surrounds Indian women’s cricket.

Over time, players like Raj, Jhulan Goswami, and now Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues, have contributed towards making women’s cricket a vibrant and quality sport. Goswami often bowled at 120kmph, for example. That was Lance Klusener’s average speed.

In simple terms, 120kmph is no child’s play.

The WPL has further boosted the profile and potential of the sport, not to mention the BCCI’s decision in October to pay women the same match fees as men (though the contract amounts remain vastly different).

Making this season sweeter was India’s victory in the Under-19 T20 World Cup in South Africa a few days ago. The team has since been feted everywhere, including by Sachin Tendulkar in Ahmedabad on February 1.

"My dream started in 1983 [watching India win the World Cup] when I was just 10 years old. By you winning this World Cup, you have actually given birth to many dreams,” Tendulkar said.

He mentioned the importance of the groundwork laid by past players such as Shanta Rangaswamy, Diana Edulji, Anjum Chopra, Raj and Goswami.

Women’s cricket will remain in the news with the Women’s T20 World Cup, which starts on February 10. And March onwards is the five-team WPL.

The franchises - Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow, Gujarat and Bengaluru - sold for prices that would have been ambitious for men’s cricket once, which shows how far women’s cricket has come.

Adani Sportsline Pvt. Ltd bought Ahmedabad for Rs 1289 crores. Reliance’s India win Sports Pvt. Ltd purchased Mumbai for Rs 912.99 crores, and Royal Challengers Sports Pvt. Ltd acquired Bengaluru for Rs 901 crores. JSW GMR Cricket Pvt. Ltd paid Rs 810 crores for Delhi, and Capri Global Holdings Pvt. Ltd secured Lucknow for Rs 757 crores.

“The collective bid of Rs 4669.99 crores shows that our stakeholders believe in the concept,” said BCCI Honorary Secretary Jay Shah.

Parth Jindal, co-owner of the Delhi Capitals, said, “Through our academies that are spread across NCR we have seen the amount of interest and talent there is amongst girls and women of all ages and I have no doubt the WPL will give passionate women cricketers the platform they deserve to show their skills.”

Player performances aside, some administrative developments have helped Indian women’s cricket over the years. In the past, it was operated by the WCAI (Women’s Cricket Association of India). They did a fine job of it within the limited resources of that time.

But in 2006, the BCCI took the women’s game under its wing. With no shortage of money or influence, it helped grow the sport.

Snehal Pradhan, former player and now a broadcaster, once wrote in ‘The Cricket Monthly’, “In 2006, once the BCCI came into the picture, trains became planes, dormitories became hotel rooms, and newspapers were read rather than sat on. From never hoping to make money from cricket, we were suddenly the recipients of (very basic) match fees and daily allowances. We entered the world of neutral umpires, video analysis and semi-professional cricket. We could stop worrying about clean drinking water and focus more on the game.”

Players have welcomed the women’s IPL ever since it was announced.

Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur said the tournament would help domestic players get a feel of the international level.

“There’s a big gap between domestic and international cricket, which some cricketers are not able to match, because even if you play well in domestic cricket and then suddenly play international games, you’re not able to understand what to do and how to do it,” Kaur told a sports network. “But in the IPL, when they get a chance to play against overseas players, that will be something that will give them a platform. They can understand what is international cricket.”

And the country will take a visible step towards gender parity. As Tendulkar said in Ahmedabad, “I believe in equality for men and women, and this [WPL and

cricket] is a great platform for you [women] to go out and do it. Not just sport but in all spheres, I think equal opportunity is important.”