There have been some teething troubles, expected for a tournament put together at the last minute, but the enthusiastic response from fans vindicates the BCCI’s decision to give women cricketers the platform they deserve.
Would Smriti Mandhana, Richa Ghosh and Renuka Singh Thakur, cornerstones of India’s T20 side, have had better Women’s Premier League (WPL) seasons had they enjoyed the backing of a partisan Bangalore crowd? Would Deepti Sharma and Devika Vaidya have been able to up their game in front of a Lucknow audience rooting for the UP Warriorz? These are some of the questions relating to on-field performance as we head into the final straight of the league’s opening season.
Off the field, the tournament has been a resounding success in terms of raising the profile of women’s cricket across the country. The thought of massive billboards featuring female cricketers dotting the Mumbai skyline would have been unthinkable even five years ago, but that is what you now find across both the old city and Navi Mumbai, the two designated venues for the competition.
Apart from India, the broadcast of the matches has been beamed into living rooms across Australia, New Zealand, the UK, North America, South Africa, Singapore and various other territories. Major news outlets across the globe have carried visuals and features relating to it, and stars like South Africa’s Marizanne Kapp – a contender for Player of the Tournament – find themselves household names as their careers wind down.
The lack of a proper home-and-away structure has been one of the criticisms of the first season, but given how late the WPL was conceptualised and implemented, a tournament played across two grounds not too far from each other was possibly the best solution. With the benefit of having got through the teething troubles expected in season one, the league can now look ahead to a proper format in 2024.
Even with only the Mumbai Indians enjoying ‘home advantage’, the crowds have been more than decent. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was initially embarrassed on the opening weekend when you could spy swathes of empty seats at a double-header despite the games being billed as ‘sold out’. On average, crowds of around 10,000 have been the norm, with female fans given free entry.
There will be no such concession for the Eliminator between Mumbai Indians and UP Warriorz on Friday night though, while the final on Sunday – the Delhi Capitals have already booked their spot – was sold out on Wednesday itself. With the cream of the world’s female cricketing talent on show and such an enthusiastic response, the inevitable question will be asked: Why couldn’t this have been done sooner?
The answer may lie in the leading run-scorers and wicket-takers’ charts. Only Harmanpreet Kaur, captain of the Mumbai Indians and the national side, and Shafali Verma – a two-crore investment for Delhi at the auction in February – make the batting top 10, while Mumbai’s Saika Ishaque – who honed her skills on Kolkata’s maidans – is the only new face in the wicket-takers’ list.
Mandhana and Sharma had average seasons, while Vaidya has done little to boost UP’s erratic campaign. Thakur had an awful season, taking just one wicket, and with the exception of Shreyanka Patil, few other up-and-coming players have left a lasting impression. What is very clear is that India needs its younger players to share a dressing room with world-class talent to up their standards. That won’t happen in a few weeks.
Several of those high-profile players, whether that be Kapp or England’s Nat Sciver-Brunt or Australia’s Alyssa Healy, have spoken of how much they’ve enjoyed playing in front of big crowds, and how they see themselves as agents of change. The big pay cheques are undoubtedly welcome, but they will get even more satisfaction if history recalls them as the group that helped women’s cricket grow lasting roots in India.
As for the game itself, Mumbai have gone off the boil slightly after winning their first five matches, and UP have enough firepower to make them pay if they slip up. In terms of selection as well, Jon Lewis and the UP team management have been brave, giving opportunities to two teenagers even as they were scrapping for the final qualifying spot. Parshavi Chopra, who only turns 17 in May, has played three matches, while Soppadhandi Yashasri (19) dismissed Verma in her only outing.
But against a Mumbai line-up where three batters – Harmanpreet, Sciver-Brunt and Hayley Matthews – have topped 200 runs while scoring at a strike-rate better than 130, the key player could be Shabnim Ismail, the veteran South African pace bowler. She has played just three games so far, but no one epitomises the UP franchise’s name quite like she does. In a big game, on a massive stage, she could be a game-changer.
But regardless of whoever wins the Eliminator or the final on Sunday, what this hastily arranged tournament has shown is that women’s franchise cricket is here to stay. The league may not expand beyond five teams for a couple of years, but the groundswell of support at the stadiums even on weekdays and a captive TV audience have shown that the BCCI was right to push out the boats.
A generation ago, Yusuf Pathan, whose only India cap till then had come in the World T20 final in 2007, was player of the match in the inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL) final. That, and Rajasthan Royals’ unexpected triumph under the late, great Shane Warne, showed just how the league could help India increase its strength in depth. With the WPL endeavouring to do the same, it remains to be seen whether it will be Ishaque, Chopra or some other relatively unknown player that becomes the face of the finals’ weekend.