Women's Cricket in India Has Changed — And It Happened Faster Than I Expected

I have to be honest about something. Until a couple of years ago, I did not follow women's cricket at all. Not because I thought it was less worthy — I just was not paying attention. The conversation in my circle was almost entirely about the men's game, IPL specifically, and that was where my attention went.

What changed was the Women's Premier League. Once franchises were involved, once the broadcast infrastructure was there, once the matches were on Hotstar where I was already watching men's cricket — I started watching. And what I found surprised me.

The Quality Is Genuinely High

The first thing that struck me was the standard of play. The WPL features players from Australia, England, South Africa, and the West Indies alongside the best Indian talent. The tactical sophistication, the skill level, the competitive intensity of the matches — it is genuinely high-quality cricket that rewards proper attention.

Smriti Mandhana specifically is something to watch. Her batting has an elegance and timing that is immediately apparent to anyone who watches cricket. The way she plays has converted several people I know from non-watchers of women's cricket to regular followers.

Women's cricket in India has crossed a threshold. The talent was always there. What has changed is the infrastructure around it — and infrastructure determines what talent can become.

What the WPL Has Changed

The Women's Premier League has created a clear destination for female cricket talent to aim toward. Young girls in India can now see a direct, financially meaningful pathway in cricket — something that simply did not exist five years ago. The impact of that visible pathway on grassroots development will compound over the next decade in ways that will make India's women's cricket programme significantly stronger than it already is.

What Still Needs to Happen

Pay equity between men's and women's cricket at all levels remains a significant gap. Grassroots infrastructure for girls' cricket in smaller cities and towns needs sustained investment. The cultural barriers that discourage some families from supporting daughters in cricket have not disappeared. Progress has been real — but the work is not finished and it should not be treated as if it is.