Keeping up with the expectation after Women’s world cup 2017- Indian team warriors

Every budding cricketer, be it a man or a woman, has a dream of playing for the World Cup on behalf of his/her country. It is the most prestigious event and gorgeous in all forms, while players from the participating countries get to showcase their talent, years of practice, and hard work in front of the entire globe!

While we all know that Women’s Cricket is not applauded or encouraged the way men’s Cricket is. But the Women’s Cricket World Cup in 2017 indeed brought in magical turn of events. Eight teams participated in the game and were narrowed down to two teams- India and England. Though India narrowly missed its chance but did return to the country with their heads high as it was the start of a new journey, only to become the best.

Indian Women cricket team changed the perspective-

Even a few years back, Cricket meant only the men in blue for the citizens. But after the 2017 world cup final, the women’s team did set new expectations for themselves. Jhulan Goswami, Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur started enjoying the limelight and was covered by media, offered roles in commercials, appeared on guest shows, and most importantly became role models to be followed from the cricket team by the entire county!

While the win against England in the opening game was taken to be a chance factor, the entire team outdid their past performances and proved their worth through victories in several consecutive matches in that World Cup.

The encouragement received from 2017 World cup made them better the next year -

Indian women’s cricket team kept their promise to keep up to the expectation of the enthusiasts. They went on a tour to South Africa in 2018 and won the first two scheduled matches with memorable performances. Smriti Mandhana hit a century and turned everyone’s head toward her because that made the team end the game with 300 runs.

Back home, they could not beat the series against Australia but won against England in the ODI series that was scheduled. The team won consecutive matches, first against Sri Lanka and then against New Zealand, and Smriti Mandhana was so competent that the team emerged victoriously.

India Women’s team performance in T20-

It has to be admitted that the team’s performance in T20 has not been as good as it was in the ODI. The team finished the t20 World Cup in 2018 by ranking 4th but lost the Asia cup, the first time in their record later.

Performances of Cricketers-

While being a cricket-fanatic, you have to understand that both success and failure have been a part of sports, individual performances by outstanding players from the Indian Women’s cricket team can not be overlooked. Smriti Mandhana outdid her own accomplishments and topped the scoreboard in Kia Super League held in 2018. She was crowned with the title of the player of the tournament that year.

Harmanpreet Kaur and Jhulan Goswami, to name a few, are excellent players who projected their skills and did everything to contribute to their team’s winning chances. But it does depend on other factors as well and not just on the players and their skills.

To sum up -

You have to admit that the Indian Women’s cricket team has shown slow but steady progress in due course of time. They have raised the bars of expectations by bringing the consecutive country victories in international series and especially in 50 over matches. They have become courageous enough to take up challenges from strong teams like Australia and England. More important for the team than winning matches is the fact they have won millions of hearts, from both genders, irrespective of class, caste, politics, and borders.

It is high time that we, as humans, stop thinking Cricket to be just a man’s game and stop discriminating between genders when it comes to choosing players and represent the country. It is upon us to break the shackle of patriarchy, shun the traditional concepts of marginalization, only to cheer out loud and encourage and support our heart out to the women’s cricket team so that they know the entire world awaits to celebrate their victory!