Women’s cricket stepping out of men’s shadow

Improved quality of game is attracting spectators while increased incentives are providing financial security, the twin phenomena driving women's game forward

Women’s cricket is not the same as men’s cricket, and there is no reason to believe it will ever be. But the real question is, does it have to be?

What becomes of women’s cricket when viewed and understood without using men’s cricket as a reference point?

Perhaps that can never be because… it’s called the ’Gentlemen’s Game’ for a reason. But what if women’s cricket tore itself away from being an, or at least perceived to be, appendage to the men’s game?

Maybe then it could evolve into its own entity and identity.

Maybe then it would draw thousands of spectators to the ground on consistent basis and regularly garner significant viewership on television and OTT platforms.

Maybe then players would get paid their due in terms of money and respect.

Maybe then young girls the world over can look at the sport as one worthy of taking up as a career.

Well, we don’t have to deal with hypotheticals anymore, and women’s cricket didn’t even need to pull away from men’s cricket to achieve this.

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It’s obvious for everyone to see that women’s cricket has become its own institution. And in owning that identity, they have also managed to crack the code which is going to help them turn the tide for the coming generation.

No, women’s cricket is not yet capable of chopping off the tendrils which tether it to the men’s game, but the women in the business of the sport have learnt to work with their counterparts to grow a strong sense of self.

"I don't think women's cricket can separate itself from men's cricket for a long time, but these are steps in the right direction," said former India player Karuna Jain. "Where we are now is far ahead of a lot of our predecessors thought possible. These crowds are coming because the quality of cricket is so good these days.

"As far as equal pay is concerned, it's going to incentivise so many more young girls to take up the sport. This can actually become a career now. It was not like this before but this is a step in the right direction and it's only going to get better."

This is their new identity, one which is able to put behind what was and look at what can be.

The strong sense of self, former India captain Shantha Rangaswamy suggests, is the reason for the success of women’s cricket over the last five years or so.

It’s the kind of success that need not be hypothesised anymore because the proof is in the pudding as close to 50 thousand people thronged the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai as India took on Australia in a bilateral Twenty20 International series.

Each of those five games saw a beautiful cross-section of sexes and cultures culminate at these grounds. In fact, the organisers put up ‘stadium full, ticket over’ posters at the gates for a couple of them.

The five-game series which even had a game go down to the Super Over was the latest in a surge of such instances where stadiums and crowds have played their part in appreciating women’s cricket.

There is an argument to be made, at least with the India-Australia series, that crowds only came in because they were not being charged to enter the stadium.

Even Rangaswamy alludes to this at some point but pooh-poohs her own assessment quickly enough because she - as a pioneer of change in the women’s game - knows this isn’t the time to nitpick or view the now and tomorrow through the lens of yesterday.

The International Cricket Council has intensified its intention to raise the stature of women’s cricket the world over for a good decade, and the Board of Control for Cricket in India decided to buy into the idea.

So much so, the richest board in the world joined a growing list of nations to introduce pay parity. They haven’t extended such equality with women’s annual contracts because those are still a far cry from the men’s contracts, but equal match fee is not at all a bad start.

“We have fought for this for so long,” says Rangaswamy. “I am so happy that the new generation of women gets to reap the rewards of our efforts. They deserve it, and they have done well so far to ensure we strengthen the sport in our country.”

In the last few years, the Indian women’s team has made it to the final of the Women’s T20 World Cup for the first time in its history. They also won the silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in England earlier this year. The Asia Cup was also conquered for the seventh time in this span.

While these are massive results to rope in sponsors and bolster confidence in the side and to those who aspire to get there, franchise cricket and its effects on women’s cricket cannot be understated.

Besides the Women’s Big Bash League, which witnesses a few Indians in its midst, the BCCI has announced the women’s version of the Indian Premier League for 2023.

And, unlike previous years where they were a few exhibition-type games trying to piggyback on the crowds which were entering the stadium for the men’s event, this is going to be a standalone event with five teams in March.

Besides this, an evolving grassroots structure in India is helping breed a new generation of women’s cricketers.

Take Mithila Vinod for instance. She’s 17 and has been part of Karnataka’s Under-19 side for a couple of years, and what started off as a hobby has now turned into a potential career.

“The rate at which women’s cricket is growing is amazing,” says the youngster. “Especially, when you realise that you will get paid your due if you put in the work, it becomes a great incentive for youngsters like me to give our everything to the sport.”

Mithila, besides putting in the hours, also plays alongside grown men and boys in the local league to improve her skills. It’s not notably different from what most women in the country have done and continue to do to sharpen up. But, Mithila reveals that this is not ideal either.

“Against boys, it’s all much faster and when you play against women, it’s slower and very different,” she notes. “We are getting there (in terms of speed), but we don’t need to compare ourselves to the men. We are being taught to play our own game.”

Earlier this month, Smriti Mandana’s very agreeable face was on the cover of Vogue Magazine, and in the interview, she said: “I don’t like the comparison between men’s cricket and women’s cricket. It’s just a different game. You don’t have to put us in the same category. Initially, when tennis was developing as a sport, there were comparisons made between the serve rates of different players. Now it has reached a point where Serena Williams is appreciated just as Roger Federer is in his own right. It’s time for cricket to also reach that place.”

Contrast this with former skipper Mithali Raj’s take from over a decade ago where she said in a media gathering that ‘women’s cricket is catching up to men’s cricket’. She altered that statement over the years to one which resembles what Smriti is saying now.

This inside-out transformation of narrative and attitude is what is bringing about a revolution, and everyone is noticing.