Zeeshan Faisal Kaskar
On the fateful day of 23 July 2017, the Indian women cricket team needed only 37 more runs to win their maiden ICC Cricket Women’s World Cup final. However, in the words of the then captain Mithali Raj, Indian team’s “inexperience” led to a disastrous middle order collapse – losing seven wickets for less than 30 runs – that took away the dreams of millions.
That World Cup Final at Lord’s was the last chance for legendary bowler, Jhulan Goswami, to claim the ultimate prize. Images of the veteran bowler in tears along with the rest of the team were still fresh in memory, but the events of 2 November, 2025 provided a redemptive moment, helping to erase the painful memory. Harmanpreet Kaur’s team pulled off a stunning performance, both with the bat and the ball, to win the 2025 ICC Women’s World Cup.
Images of the veteran bowler in tears along with the rest of the team were still fresh in memory, but the events of 2 November, 2025 provided a redemptive moment
As Deepti Sharma picked the last wicket, the entire Indian dressing room ran on the field to celebrate with the rest of the team. Kaur and others took a victory lap and thanked the Navi Mumbai crowd. Amid the jubilation, there were two other familiar faces who were not part of the 2025 squad, Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami. Both veterans were in tears as they lifted the coveted trophy. A part of them would have remembered how close the Indian team got to this very moment in 2017.
The image of the veterans with the current team isn’t ordinary. It shows an acknowledgement for former players by Harmanpreet Kaur and other players, a spectacle that isn’t ordinarily seen in the men’s game. The 2011 ICC men’s final celebrations, for example, did not include players like Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid – who were an important part of building the players of the 2011 squad. While historicity is an important part of the men’s game – no one, after all, will ever forget Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid or Sachin Tendulkar – it was very important for the women’s team to be able to call back to previous generations of women cricketers.
A diverse squad
If you are an Indian cricket follower, you know that the Indian cities have been at the forefront of producing quality players. From Gavaskar to Kohli, many of the men’s cricket team came from India’s metropolis. However, the current women’s squad has only five players from the cities making it a squad dominated by players who are not from the larger urban centers of the country.
Kranti Gaud came from a tribal family in Ghuwara – a small village in the Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh – a town without a cricket facility, Uma Chetry comes from Golaghat in Assam, Renuka Singh Thakur comes from Rahru in Himachal Pradesh. Even greats like Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur come from modest towns of Sangli and Moga, respectively. The Indian women’s team consists of players from 12 different states, which in itself is a remarkable stat.
…it was very important for the women’s team to be able to call back to previous generations of women cricketers
All the girls in the squad have a personal story of struggle. Struggle, not just with the game and fitness, but also with society and how it views women playing a sport. Captain Kaur, the feisty Indian batter who began her career as a fast-bowler, often bowled by wrapping a dupatta around her waist. Amanjot Kaur, who took a crucial catch in the final, is a carpenter’s daughter. The video of her father, Bhupinder Singh, is doing rounds on the internet. The proud father tells how he went against all social norms to support his daughter in playing cricket and how he carved a bat himself when Amanjot did not have a bat to play with.
These are just two of the many stories that each of the cricketers would have. Stories about beating the odds, about tackling societal pressures, about support from parents, etc. In a country which is still struggling to treat men and women at par, a father supporting his daughter to play cricket is bound to inspire more than a generation.
All the girls in the squad have a personal story of struggle. Struggle, not just with the game and fitness, but also with society and how it views women playing a sport.
Credit Where Due
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) made it a mission to promote the women’s sport. As Mithali Raj had pointed out in the post-match conference of the 2017 Women’s World Cup Final, India’s women’s cricket needed a world-class push.
In the past few years, women’s cricket saw a shift. A model of equal pay, central contracts, and increased domestic tournaments gradually began to take shape under the BCCI’s renewed vision. The Board’s decision to introduce the Women’s Premier League (WPL) in 2023 was, in many ways, a turning point. Not only did it offer financial security to players, but it also gave them the much-needed exposure and pressure-handling experience that comes with a high-stakes tournament.
I’ve followed Indian women’s cricket since childhood, but the moment I truly got hooked was that fateful 2017 final. I still remember travelling to Delhi for my master’s admission at Jamia Millia Islamia, sitting with my friend Karan and talking endlessly about that loss. I was heartbroken, almost the same way I felt after the Champions Trophy final against Pakistan the same year. But there was something different about this heartbreak. It wasn’t just about losing a match; it felt like watching a dream slip away for players who had fought for visibility all their lives.
As Mithali Raj had pointed out in the post-match conference of the 2017 Women’s World Cup Final, India’s women’s cricket needed a world-class push.
In those early years after 2017, stadiums were half-empty, telecasts often delayed, and even highlights struggled to find airtime. But somewhere between that silence and the roar of the Navi Mumbai crowd in 2025, the sport changed dramatically.
In 2022 the BCCI announced equal match fees for men and women cricketers, a first in India’s sporting history. That symbolic move of pay parity laid the foundation for real change: it told every young girl that her talent and effort were worth the same.
Then came 2023 and the launch of the Women’s Premier League (WPL). The WPL gave India’s cricketers the chance to share dressing rooms with the world’s best, learn under pressure, and adapt to global standards. It turned names like Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh, and Renuka Singh Thakur into household brands.
But the impact wasn’t just technical, it was economic too. By 2025, women’s cricket had become prime-time content. Broadcasters competed for rights, advertisers reallocated budgets, and social media engagement for women’s matches hit record highs. The BCCI’s ₹51 crore prize money for the 2025 title – the highest ever in women’s cricket – marked a new era, one where performance and reward finally stood on equal ground.
That symbolic move of pay parity laid the foundation for real change: it told every young girl that her talent and effort were worth the same.
The BCCI’s commitment went beyond paychecks. Investment in infrastructure, from dedicated physiotherapists and nutritionists to high-performance centers exclusively for women, started bearing fruit. The team’s fitness graph, fielding standards, and strategic depth saw visible improvement.
The same board that once faced criticism for neglecting the women’s game has now become one of its strongest advocates. The success in Navi Mumbai is as much a victory for these cricketers as it is for the BCCI’s newfound conviction in women’s cricket.
Between Feminism and the Field
This win isn’t just about cricket. It’s about a broader question that Indian society has been grappling with for decades – what does equality truly look like?
For a long time, women in sports have had to justify their ambition. They have had to fight for recognition, legitimacy, and space, not just in stadiums but in living rooms where people still say “women’s cricket” as if it’s a lesser version of the game.
When a girl from a small village in Himachal or Assam wears the India jersey, it chips away at the invisible wall that has kept generations of women out of competitive sport. Every time the women’s team plays in front of a packed stadium, the idea that ‘sports belong to men’ takes another blow.
For a long time, women in sports have had to justify their ambition. They have had to fight for recognition, legitimacy, and space…
The Indian women’s cricket team has become more than a sporting unit; it has become a mirror. A mirror showing that equality isn’t an abstract ideal, but a lived reality that needs investment, opportunity, and belief.
Their victory in Navi Mumbai is not the end of a journey, rather, it is the opposite. It is the beginning of a new narrative. It truly feels like Indian women cricket’s “1983 moment” – one where every girl picking up a bat doesn’t need to be brave to dream, she just needs to be herself.
