A home-grown T20 league for women in India is finally kicking off with five teams, a number of players and innumerable dreams. The Women’s Premier League, which is a realisation of a dream is just the start as the lives of the players and women’s cricket in India are set to change forever.
Oblivion as per the dictionary is “the state of being unaware or unconscious”. India’s domestic cricketers will be very much familiar with the word and the phrase given that they have lived their lives that way, they spend their whole careers trying to be relevant. The situation with their female counterparts is even worse, with even fewer matches, and the unending struggle to get those televised or streamed, let alone the crowd at the venues. The advent of the Women’s Big Bash League and its success, the women’s Hundred, which became an overnight success story, paved the way for a similar dedicated T20 league for women in India.
Traditionally, cricket has been a male-dominated sport, and still is and the female cricketers who have been able to make a name for themselves have all risen through the ranks on their own, but when the cream is set aside, then the real picture is visible, which may not be a happy one. The faceless cricketers, who are not able to make it through to the top will start, play and finish their careers in the domestic structure without them realising that they have the potential to deliver at a higher level.
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We are less than 24 hours away from the #TATAWPL opener in Mumbai! ?️
Are YOU ready ? pic.twitter.com/G4CI60Jtf3
— Women’s Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) March 3, 2023
The Indian women’s cricket team has been a bridesmaid a few times now but never the bride and the WPL brings optimism with it to bridge the gap. Will the WPL magically help the Indian cricketers learn how to play under pressure? Unfortunately, no. But playing in pressure situations more often than not in front of massive crowds roaring at the top of their voices will help them learn how to deal with it and at least they will be better prepared come the next time, they are in a similar sort of situation playing for the Women in Blue.