The current breed of talented girls owes it to the Women’s Cricket Association of India (WCAI) and the people behind it. That is where the saga of women’s cricket started to unfold, around five decades ago.

By Medha Godbole

As Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and the rest of the players proudly displayed their well-deserved Asian Games Gold medal for cricket, one cannot help but thinking how far women’s cricket in India has come. Although it is still just in its teens and there is still a lot to be cheered about. But it is safe to say that the current breed of talented girls owes it all to the Women’s Cricket Association of India and the people behind it. That is where the saga of women’s cricket started taking shape, around five decades ago.

Circa 1973 – The Women’s Cricket Association of India (WCAI) was registered by Mahendra Kumar Sharma, the founder secretary in Lucknow, India, under the Indian Societies Act. Even though since early 1970’s, women had been playing cricket, there was no organisational set up for the game before WCAI. Girls who played hockey and softball were the obvious choices to be picked to play cricket. The first president of the WCAI was the late Begum Hamida Habibullah. She was the face of women empowerment in post-independence India.

The same year, in 1973, WCAI became a member of the International Women’s Cricket Council. This probably doesn’t seem to be of too much consequence now. Although at that time, it was huge, and the matches garnered a decent number of spectators. Under the leadership of Habibullah, initially, for the first few years, there was considerable hustle and bustle. They were playing for almost nine months in a year. Three teams participated in the the first women’s inter-state nationals – Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Mumbai held in 1973.

From three teams in the first inter-state tournament to more than ten in the third, held at the then Kolkata (earlier Calcutta), it was a big leap for the association as well as involvement of women in the sport. The first ever international test match was held at Pune between India and Australia in 1975. It is another story that the match was considered to be an unofficial affair. This was followed by India’s matches with New Zealand, England, and West Indies, both at home and overseas. Interestingly and ironically enough, despite the lack of awareness and general apathy towards women’s cricket, the touring teams were surprised to see a large number of spectators. This was something they had never experienced at home. Perhaps one of the reasons could be that in India, the matches were held at regular cricket stadiums whereas abroad they were played on club cricket grounds. The WCAI functioned efficiently under Anuradha Dutta, 1991 onwards. The trend continued, 2002 onwards with Shubhangi Kulkarni as the secretary.

Of course, the WCAI was responsible for pumping in the money via its stake holders. According to one of the former India players, who has seen the working of the WCAI closely, the volunteers and officials often pumped in their own finances to make sure that the girls got to play. In fact, the WCAI hosted the 1997 Women’s World Cup in India with the financial backing of local businesses.

Much was achieved by the WCAI for women’s cricket and there was a lot of activity in the first decade or so after its establishment. However, around the early 1980s, things took a downturn. Shantha Rangaswamy, a former allrounder and Indian captain and an Arjuna Awardee (1976-1991) and Shubhangi Kulkarni (former India Captain, and Arjuna Awardee) both look upon the period of 1986 to 1991 as that of lull. There was barely any cricket played. Rangaswamy and several other doyens of sport like Diana Eduljee, Ujjwala Nikam had to endure this tumultuous time. It was tough because all these immensely talented players had to twiddle their thumbs in their prime, without any action on the ground. Upon a bit of digging, it was known that there were issues between the then WCAI secretary and the concerned minister of sports.

But one wonders, considering that, women’s cricket in general seemed to be in a better position in India in the 1970s and 1980s, why did it take almost eighty odd years for it to merge with BCCI? The BCCI, we have to note here, was formed in the late 1920s. One aspect of the answer seems to be obvious. Popularity and money were not the adjectives which were associated with women’s cricket. Lucrative was not something women’s cricket was believed to be. However, the WCAI became a member of the International Women’s Cricket Council (IWCC) in 1973 and received the government’s recognition in 1978. After the BCCI started administering the sport, at the beginning of 2000, things were looking up. Although, the WCAI was left to its own devices for a while. Lack of resources was a major issue while those who played or represented BCCI as players got better opportunities and treatment.

The amalgamation or the merger of WCAI into BCCI happened in the year 2006. By that time, the International Cricket Council, which had already taken the IWCC (International Women’s Cricket Council) under its aegis. Kulkarni surmises that it was probably because for cricket to be included as a part of the Olympics or Commonwealth Games, there had to be a single governing body for the sport. This brought about a sea change in the playing conditions for the players. Things like match fees, hotel accommodation and proper train reservations came into the picture.

But all this would not have been possible if it were not for late MK Sharma’s resilience and his support for women’s cricket. A chance sighting of girls from a softball team playing cricket on a railway platform in India spurred the formation of WCAI. Talking about the setting up of WCAI, Kulkarni mentioned that MK Sharma was a visionary when it came to women’s cricket. A coach himself, then, he was pivotal in getting an organized set up for this sport with reference to women in the country. Before that, it was pretty much scattered. He did not falter from his objective no matter what anyone said. Men like him were made fun of and girls too were ridiculed and cast away. In a predominantly orthodox society, like India, girls wielding bats was blasphemy. They were supposed to get married, have children and take care of the household, not go around running behind a leather ball in shorts or skirts in front of people.

The similarities between what Women’s Cricket Monthly magazine by Marjorie Pollard did for the cause of women’s cricket in the United Kingdom and by cascading effect across the globe and the WCAI for women’s cricket is uncanny. The WCAI nurtured some of the best women cricketers over the years. The solid foundation laid by the association ensured that generations of girls would be able to build their careers on it. For that, innumerable cricket connoisseurs and future Mithali Rajs or Shantha Rangaswamys in India will always be indebted to.