Haryana Hurricane

Twenty-year-old Kashvee Gautam became the most expensive player at the Women's Premier League auction in 2023, picked by Gujarat Giants for Rs 2 crore.

- SURESH K. PANDEY

A pixie haircut. Broad shoulders. A loose T-shirt and a confidence in her movements that made her seem older than 13. When she walked into the government school ground in Sector 32, Chandigarh, even seasoned coaches didn't question it. They assumed she was another boy looking for a net session.

"I also thought she was a boy initially," recalls cricket coach Nagesh Gupta, who would go on to shape her cricketing life. "She still looks like one sometimes. But when I made her bowl, I knew immediately that this kid is different. Natural action. Smooth."

That 'boy' was Kashvee Gautam. For years, she had been hiding in plain sight, playing gully cricket with boys who were unaware that she was a girl, waking up before dawn to play in parks, cycling through lanes to avoid being seen in school uniforms she didn't feel comfortable in, quietly building the foundation of a career that would take her to the Women's Premier League, the Indian team. And beyond.

For decades, women's cricket in India stayed in the shadows, seen as a 'man's game', underfunded, poorly supported, with players earning just Rs 1,000 per match even during the 2005 World Cup. Change began after the women's association merged with the BCCI in 2006, but real momentum came much later with equal match fees in 2022 and the launch of the WPL in 2023, laying the groundwork for greater visibility and professional support. When she started out, Gautam says, she used to wonder if a Women's IPL would ever happen. Now when she plays, she notes that “the crowd is so loud that I sometimes have to cover my ears. Even in Tier-2 cities like Vadodara, stadiums are full.”

The Indian Women's team's recent win in the ICC World Cup resulted in accelerated investment, recognition and even parity in the sport, giving the team not just historic rewards but also widespread public acclaim.