Revolution in women's cricket: Harmanpreet's one innings changed the picture, now ready to compete with men's cricket

Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur's incredible innings of 171 runs in the World Cup semi-final against Australia in 2017 completely changed the picture of Indian women's cricket. This one innings showed the administrators the potential to invest in women's cricket, due to which the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) provided more funds for women's cricket. After this, the BCCI, which spent Rs 6 crore on international tours in 2017-18, started spending Rs 24.23 crore in 2018-19. Today, this figure has reached Rs 69.5 crore in 2024-25. The budget of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) has also been increased, and more focus is being placed on women's cricket. However, women's cricket is still lagging behind men's cricket, especially in central contracts and domestic competitions. However, with the success of the Women's Premier League (WPL) and the growing support from the administration, there is hope that women's cricket will be able to match men's cricket in the future.
Harmanpreet's knock opens the door for women's cricket

Harmanpreet Kaur's unbeaten knock of 171 against Australia in the 2017 World Cup semi-final ushered in a new dawn for Indian women's cricket. Before that, women's cricket was seen as a burden. The Indian women's team played barely half a dozen international matches a year and domestic cricket was completely ignored. Harmanpreet's stormy knock showed the administrators the potential for investing in women's cricket. After this, the BCCI started pouring more money into women's cricket. The BCCI, run by the Supreme Court Committee of Accounts (CoA), increased the budget for women's cricket and in March 2018, introduced a central contract system for women, which was a sign of change.

Jemima Rodrigues' dream come true: A decade of change

Jemima Rodrigues, who was present to watch the Women's World Cup final in an empty stadium in 2013, has now led Indian women's cricket. In 2017, she went to the airport to welcome the women's team. At that time, it was difficult to even imagine a league like the IPL for women in India. Today, eight years later, riding on the BCCI's central contract and the success of the Women's Premier League (WPL), she scored an unbeaten 127 against Australia in the World Cup semi-final and led the team to victory. Then, on Sunday night, she led the team to victory in the World Cup. All this happened in the city where the Women's World Cup final was held in 2013. Jemima's innings was reminiscent of Harmanpreet's innings in 2017. If women's cricket gained momentum in 2017, now more funds and structural reforms are expected.

Financial reforms: Big increase in budget

Harmanpreet's innings in 2017 had a big impact on the financial system of Indian women's cricket. Before that innings, the BCCI was spending just Rs 6 crore on international tours in the financial year 2017-18. However, in the subsequent budget, the BCCI earmarked Rs 24.23 crore for women's cricket. This was a four-fold increase. In 2018-19, the board organised seven international tours, while in 2017-18, only eight matches were played. In 2024-25, the BCCI spent Rs 69.5 crore on women's international tours and has earmarked Rs 85 crore for 2025-26. There has also been a big increase in the budget for domestic women's cricket. In 2018-19, the BCCI spent Rs 24 crore, which has increased to Rs 96 crore for the estimated year 2025-26.

Increased budget of National Cricket Academy (NCA) and focus on women's cricket

The BCCI has also increased the budget of the National Cricket Academy (NCA), with more focus on women's cricket. The NCA's budget was Rs 26 crore in 2017-18, which increased to Rs 51 crore in 2018-19. Currently, the budget for the functioning of the Centre of Excellence (CoE) has reached Rs 126.29 crore. This has significantly improved the game of women cricketers.

Former coach's view: Improvement in facilities and training

Former India women's team coach WV Raman told TOI, "Before becoming the women's team coach, I was working at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) when Rahul Dravid was the head of the system. Many new programmes were started during that time. Under-19 cricket gained importance and 'A' tours for women were also started. The NCA was opened up to women cricketers from all over the country." He added, "They were facing difficulties due to lack of high-performance facilities and training. Now they play top teams like Australia and England more often. This gap has been filled now. I remember when I became the coach, I didn't believe that this team had the capacity to play T20 cricket."

Gap still persists compared to men's cricket

Although BCCI has taken many positive steps for women's cricket after the 2017 World Cup, there is still a big gap compared to men's cricket. When BCCI first centrally contracted women players in 2018, only 10 players were included, while 26 players were contracted in men's cricket. Women players received a total of Rs 3.8 crore, while men got Rs 81 crore. According to the 2025-26 budget, Rs 92 crore will be shared among 34 men's players, while only Rs 6 crore is reserved for 16 women's players. This picture persists even after the additional income of Rs 350 crore that BCCI will get from the WPL. According to a report by TOI on October 17, BCCI is planning to spend Rs 344 crore on men's domestic cricket (all age groups), while only Rs 96 crore will be spent on women's domestic cricket. Rs 111 crore is spent on the Ranji Trophy alone. There is no organised inter-state first-class tournament like the Ranji Trophy in women's cricket.

Future plans: Focus on red-ball cricket

BCCI secretary Devjit Saikia recently said that the board's focus is on red-ball cricket. "At the senior level, we need to have more multi-day matches. This is an area where we need to work. All our domestic matches are mostly T20s or 50-overs. Maybe we need to start multi-day tournaments like the Ranji Trophy for men," Saikia had said on Friday.

Conclusion

Harmanpreet Kaur's historic innings in 2017 gave a new direction to Indian women's cricket. Due to administrative support, increased budget and leagues like the WPL, women's cricket is progressing rapidly. Although there is still some gap compared to men's cricket, there is no doubt that women's cricket will perform at par with men's cricket in the future.