Did you know about the Indian Women Cricket Team?
If I ask you to tell me the name of your favourite cricketer, you’ll probably name Virat Kohli, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar or some other equally cool dude. But can you tell me the name of any woman cricketer from India?
Women players, both in India and across the world, have been playing awesome games for many years now. If your family are big cricket fans, then chances are that you all like to watch the Indian Premier League (IPL) matches together. Did you know that in 2023, Indian women’s cricket is set to have its own IPL tournament?
What’s the history of women’s cricket in India?
Girls have been playing cricket in India for just as long as boys. But they didn’t have an official team that played in matches nationally and internationally as the men did. This changed in 1973 when the Women’s Cricket Association of India (Association) was created. The Association started organising national and international matches where teams of women could play. India played in the Women’s World Cup in 1978 for the first time. We did not win a single match then. After many years of hard work, India reached the Women’s World Cup finals in 2005, 2017, and 2020 (how incredible is that!).
What’s the Women’s IPL going to be like?
The women’s IPL will give us a chance to watch and cheer for women cricketers on TV. Two new movies are going to come out this year based on the lives of two famous Indian women cricketers, Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami. These examples show that Indian Women’s Cricket is super-popular.
The Women’s IPL is going to be a smashing success. Someday soon in the future, we’ll be proudly naming our favourite women's cricket players just as we name our favourite men's players today.