India’s first athletics gold medalist Neeraj Chopra sits as a spectator cheering on the Indian women’s junior athletes as the Indian women’s team beat England by 7 wickets in the final of the Under-19 Women’s T-20 World Cup in Potchestroom, South Africa on Sunday. Even such a champion may not have thought how important winning this cup is going to be for Indian women’s cricket. No one will realize that winning this cup can bring about an unprecedented revolution not only in women’s cricket in India but also in the mindset of Indians regarding the entire women’s game in India. Just like Neeraj Chopra won the gold by throwing the javelin, now every village child of the country wants to be like him, now the girls of India are going to dream of becoming athletes after this achievement of women’s cricket.
However, off the field, BCCI, the world’s richest board, has already blown the bugle under its young secretary Jai Shah. Match fees for Indian men’s and women’s team players were made equal for the first time in the country, ending decades of discrimination in one fell swoop, giving women’s cricket a different momentum. After that, the broadcasting rights of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) broke all the ratings records and after this, considering the incredible bids made in the WPL’s 5-team auction, there should be no doubt that women in the country The future of cricket is very bright.
All this is happening but apart from that there is still a lot to happen. Two important milestones remain. About 2 weeks from now, the same is going to start its first stage in South Africa. In which the coach of the champion U-19 team and two key players will join the senior team and start trying their best to win the country one more World Cup. The senior level women’s T20 World Cup will be played in South Africa in February. India’s senior team has never become a world champion till date.
If this time the senior team also succeeds in repeating the success of the U-19 team on the same African soil, then rest assured that the WPL will also succeed in creating a distinct identity apart from the Men’s IPL. After India’s junior women’s team became champions, it can only be called a coincidence when Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team won the first T20 World Cup in September 2007, then the first IPL event in 2008 changed the image of Indian cricket as well as cricket as a whole across the world. This time, if the women’s team wins the World Cup, they will not get much rest and will have to play directly in the WPL in March. But they won’t be complaining at all as a few days from now all these players will also be auctioned, which is expected to reap huge financial benefits.
The junior players have started, now the seniors have to end this great season by winning the trophy. The history created by India’s junior team as champions of the Under-19 Women’s T-20 World Cup is likely to resonate in the Indian sports world for a long time. This World Cup victory can prove to take the women’s sports world to a new height in India and no one can deny it.