Impact of women’s World Cup and WPL on young girls
Winning the ICC Women’s World Cup -2025, triggered national euphoria characterized by massive street celebrations across India. The World Cup generated huge respect for girls and women’s cricket became quite popular in the country, including among young and old. The triumph elevated the winning team’s players as national icons, while the players started getting brand ambassador and endorsement offers, a rarity in India. It boosted sponsorships and inspired a ‘cricket as my career’ zest among girls’, who also took to playing ‘gulli’ cricket. The players are recognized and cheered at airports and huge malls in cosmopolitan cities as well as in towns.
With the massive success of women’s World Cup and the Women’s Premier League (WPL), the interest and enthusiasm among girls, including those staying in gated communities, increased manifold.
The World Cup victory has inspired a new generation of female cricketers, with many girls now dreaming of representing India as the career pinnacle. The WPL has played a significant role in this, providing a platform for women cricketers to showcase their skills. The WPL has also brought about a cultural shift, with cricket no longer seen as a ‘man’s game’. The girls enjoyed an identity of their own. The league helped increase their visibility and recognition, with the turnout at venues and viewership reporting an overwhelming increase marking the women’s cricket was here to stay in India. This has created new opportunities for women cricketers, including lucrative endorsements and deals and sponsorships, which makes for a significant upward march from the days of Shanta Rangaswamy and Diana Eduljee.
I have been noticing that young girls in my society were super excited watching the live telecast, and screaming “out”, “not out” “super shot”. One day I decided to join them. I was amazed by their passion. They had pinned women cricketers’ names and jersey numbers on their tees-Jami, Harman, Mandana, Shefali and even the injured Pratima Rawal, who scored 308 runs in the World Cup. Since they could not afford multiple tees, they got creative with paper and colours, switching numbers and names for different matches. I was impressed by their knowledge-they knew everything about the WWC and WPL. Tamanna though the youngest, but a dominating player in the group and the self-declared captain was wearing a tee with both numbers 23/7. On being asked, my good friend Tamanna explained that Harmanpreet had changed her jersey number from 7 to 23 based on the advice of a numerologist. Following this advice in late 2024, Harmanpreet Kaur won the WPL title for Mumbai Indians and won the World Cup in 2025. Incidentally, the number 7 jersey is a tribute to former India captain M S Dhoni, who wore it during his playing days. The number represented her aggressive, fearless playing style for many years before she switched to number 23 for better luck. Though she wore 23 for the World Cup, she is recognized globally for wearing number 7.
It’s shocking and amazing to see Tamanna rattling off so much information at a stretch. I saw another fragile little girl in the team, named Tripti, with Mandana’s number 18 with a style similar to her idol. They all were united in their admiration for Smriti’s, ‘legend’, ‘destroyer’ and ‘Queen’.
There was another tiny cute little girl in the team fitting the personality of Jemimah and wearing the jersey number 3. The group calls her ‘petite dynamite’, for her high energy, explosive and aggressive style. Her paddle sweep and strong strokes are almost like that of Jemimah. All girls agreed that the little one is a strong hitter and sometimes they must go in search of the ball in the adjoining compound, which is a corporate office. They were all very excited to talk about the way Nandini saluted whenever she took a wicket. These girls adore Harmanpreet, admire the magical Mandana and adulate Jemimah. The girls would jump into each other’s arms, mimicking the players’ celebrations after a player from the rival team gets dismissed. It was heartwarming to see them all raring to go!
The girls were proud to see the true camaraderie between the best of friends. They appreciated Jamimah’s gesture when she walked all the way up to Smriti after RCB won the WPL title. Their warm hug and emotional reactions were heart-touching, indeed. The best friends became each other’s support after the WPL final. It taught the girls that winning and losing are part of life, and humility goes a long way. You learn by watching your heroes.
Players like Harmanpreet, Smriti, Jemimah, Deepti Sharma, Shefali Varma, Amanjot Kaur and the rest of the squad, have become household names, inspiring young girls to look up to them as role models. More girls are taking up cricket, with many schools and academies reporting a surge in female enrolment. WPL has provided women cricketers with a means to earn a living, giving them financial independence and security. The women cricketers’ long sixes and fours guarantee that their brand of cricket is poised for greater glory in India.
