India women’s cricket team has changed view of female sport, says Virat Kohli
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India's Renuka Singh Thakur celebrates after taking the wicket of Australia's Grace Harris.
PHOTO: REUTERS
BENGALURU – The achievements of India’s women’s cricket team in recent years have revolutionised perceptions towards women’s sport, driving increased engagement, commercial success and financial stability, according to men’s batter Virat Kohli.
The team, who won silver at the Commonwealth Games in 2022 and gold at the Asian Games in 2023, are third in the International Cricket Council’s Twenty20 and one-day rankings, trailing only Australia and England.
“I think what the India women’s cricket team has done over the last few years, they are the ones who were the catalysts to put the attention onto them (women’s sports),” Kohli, an ODI World Cup winner, said in Bengaluru last weekend.
“I literally saw it happening like in a time span of six, seven years. The way they started playing, you could see the belief that people started engaging in a lot more.
“Eventually, it got to a place where commercials became better. Money was being infused into the women’s game and then you have the WPL (Women’s Premier League).”
While the men’s Indian Premier League started in 2008, it took 15 years for women to have their own T20 league.
Kohli, who is also a T20 World Cup and Champions Trophy winner, said the league has taken the game “two to three levels higher than it used to be”.
“You can’t just look at the men for the improvement of sport in any country,” he added.
“It has to be a collective sports culture and it includes everyone. And women’s sport is a massive part of it
“We have so much talent in women’s sport, not just cricket, but all the other sports. We have had great individual athletes over the years – tennis, badminton, wrestling and boxing.
“It’s definitely heading in the right direction and it keeps getting more backing and more infrastructure to be developed for them as well as for their sport to grow.”
Cricket has been the driving force behind the change in the sporting ecosystem in India, but women’s participation in other sports in the country still needs more support and platforms for exposure.
Former Australia football and Fifa Council member Moya Dodd echoed Kohli’s sentiments, saying the success of women’s cricket in India would pave the way for the development of other sports in the country.
“I think there’s room for more than one sport and, even though one sport may lead, I think it does create space for women to participate in other sports,” she said.
“The success of women’s cricket in India will drive that movement, and other women’s sports will gain the permission of society to also reflect that and build their growth from that.” REUTERS
