Women have fought hard, but it was not easy for men too

Tales of hardship of the pioneers of the women's game in the 1970s are legion and worn like a badge of honour by veterans Indian cricketers

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While the nation is still aglow following the triumph of the Indian team at the ICC Women's World Cup (50 overs) at Navi Mumbai on Nov 2the first world team title in any sport for our sportswomencomparisons have been inevitably and unfortunately drawn with the men's maiden triumph in the 1983 Prudential World Cup in England.

The phrase "comparisons are odious" may be too strong a term, but they are certainly woefully inaccurate and misleading in this particular case. For, in a nutshell, Kapil Dev's men, by stunning twice-world champions and holders West Indies in the final at Lord's, turned the world of cricket upside down and completely changed its structure at both the national and international levels. If today Indian cricket, under the umbrella of the omnipotent Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), rules the world of cricket and has an iron grip on the International Cricket Council (ICC) as well, it is in no small measure thanks to the 'Miracle at Lord's'.

After hosting the first three World Cups in 1975, 1979, and 1983, sponsored by the Prudential Insurance Company, the Test and County Cricket Board, now the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), had the rug pulled from under their feet when India and Pakistan won the rights to stage the 1987 (Reliance) World Cup. And in 1996, it returned to the subcontinent with India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka as co-hosts in the face of fierce and furious opposition from the TCCB. With Kolkata's Jagmohan Dalmiya taking over as president of the ICC in 1997 and the scrapping of the obnoxious veto rule held since the birth of the ICC (then the Imperial Cricket Conference) in 1909 by founding members England and Australia, the transformation of world cricket was complete.