Cricket in India: No longer ‘The Gentleman's Game’ but for ALL who wish to WIN!

Atul Loke/The New York Times

Big Change Coming

Cricket is by far the most popular sport in India but has always been referred to as ‘the gentleman's game’ which has always sent a strong message to young girls and women about where they belong. India has always had more steadfast gender expectations with only about 20% of women being employed within the formal workforce.

Times seem to be changing though as $500 Million has been invested into a new professional women's cricket league. Offering women the opportunity to be professional athletes, something most of these girls and women were only able to dream of, but now might be in their grasp.

The women's league has been molded off of the professional mens league that has seen major success within the past fifteen years. Base investments of about $100M are now being valued at $1B making the Men’s Premier League one of the most valuable sports organizations on the planet. The teams mostly feature Indian players but other top players around the world have flocked to the league as well for the opportunity to compete on this stage.

The money that has come in has allowed the trickle down effect to improve the system for grass root efforts and allows more young players to join the obviously growing sport. Grassroot efforts are arguably one of the best way to keep certain sports alive by giving the next generation the proper opportunity to flourish and create positive relationships within the sport which in turn keep the sport alive.

The Ambanis, the Adanis and some of India’s other prominent industrialists have made an investment so these women can prosper. The inaugural season took place last month and each franchise was sold for about $110M, all five for $570M to value the entire league. Which now makes them the second most valuable women's sports association, putting them right behind the W.N.B.A.

The debut was very well received seeing some matches draw 35,000 fans, and had about 50 million viewers in India watch during the leagues opening week. Social media platforms were filled with memes and lots of talk about teams and players.

Nikhil Bardia, an executive at RISE Worldwide, a popular sports and entertainment agency, said “Everyone is a stakeholder now in making it successful, in empowering the women ecosystem to have a lot more heroes.”

The Catalyst

Harmanpreet Kaur the captain of the revered national team illustrates the transformative potential womens sports have in India.

Ms. Kaur was given a chance when a coach saw her talent and let her practice with the boys team before he created a girls team, built around her. But even though she is a key figure on the national team, she still had to secure a side job in Mumbai to stay afloat.

The turning point according to cricket experts took place in the World Cup in 2017 when, even though India suffered a tough loss in the final, Ms. Kaur had a star turn and drew such a large audience on social media and television. Jarrod Kimber, a cricket commentator stated “she [Harmanpreet] made people look at the women’s game differently, she demanded that they look at it in the first place” discussing her amazing performance against the Australian women’s national team in the 2017 World Cup.

Last year the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) released information stating that they will make the match fee equal for female and male centrally contracted players. Promoting gender equality in their nations most beloved sport. BCCI President Roger Binny expressed how this step is a great step forward for women’s cricket and for the game itself.

As opportunities grow across the world it will be interesting to see which sports continue to expand globally and which will create larger footprints across the world.