CHAMPIONS IN THE MAKING

On Sunday, March 8, that big night for Indian women’s cricket, victory proved elusive because champions Australia were just too good for the challengers. Harmanpreet Kaur’s India had not lost a single match till that final, but their undefeated run in the ICC Twenty20 World Cup didn’t break the stride of Meg Lanning’s team. This was Australia’s fifth world title in the women’s game.

- Anand Vasu

For Indian cricket fans and the team, the loss might have been a crushing disappointment in the immediate aftermath. India’s new find, 16-year-old Shafali Verma, who lit up the tournament with her effervescent batting, couldn’t hold back the tears. That image will linger in public memory. But the true setback for Indian women’s cricket was that a tournament title might have catalysed the movement to back the women’s team with resources of the kind that might produce champions.

Till very recently, the women’s team received little more than lip service from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The game was run in an ad hoc manner, coaching staff were hired and fired willy-nilly, women cricketers had access to only a fraction of the vast resources at the disposal of their male counterparts and visibility for their matches was an afterthought.