In the modern era, the Indian women cricketers are signing contracts worth crores of rupees (INR), playing Women’s Premier League (WPL), and attracting millions of viewers. It is not only because of the players’ efforts. Rather, a decision maker has been behind their success that has completely changed the fate of Indian women’s cricket forever.
Gone are those days when the Indian women’s team was run by a separate organization—The Women’s Cricket Association of India (WCAI).
Ever since the WCAI merged with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2006, Indian women’s cricket has witnessed a tremendous revolution.
A Brief Story of WCAI and The Merging With BCCI
The Women’s Cricket Association of India was founded in 1973 at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Eventually, the female cricketers started to create their identity at the international level despite a lack of support from the WCAI. But the harsh reality was that there was a huge gap between the men’s and women’s cricket.
On the other hand, BCCI established its worth as one of the most powerful cricketing boards in the world. This is where the Indian cricket board stepped up to support the struggling women’s cricket due to a lack of resources.
Back in 2005, the International Women’s Cricket Council (IWCC) was merged with the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Following this integration, ICC decided that the management of men’s and women’s cricket should be done by their respective national boards across the world instead of different organizations. This was the main reason why the WCAI and BCCI elections were held in India.
Discussions were actively held on the creation, promotion, and future of women’s cricket. Subsequently, in 2006, the WCAI was merged with BCCI. At that time, very few were aware that this merging could change the future of Indian women’s cricket forever.
A Tough Phase for Women Cricketers Under the WCAI Era
Under the WCAI era between 1973 and 2006, the women cricketers struggled to an unimaginable extent due to these reasons:
- Insufficient funds for women cricketers
- Lack of media attention and media sponsors.
- Women cricketers have a tough time explaining to their families and societies that the bat and ball game is not only for boys.
- Despite limited resources, lack of facilities, and zero identity, a few players didn’t give up and tried their level best to keep women’s cricket alive.
WCAI to BCCI Merging: Benefits For Indian Women’s Cricket
Soon after the WCAI’s merging, the women’s Indian cricket team bagged a lifetime jackpot by getting the full support of the BCCI- the world’s richest cricketing board, and gained benefits in several ways, such as:
- Getting better cricketing fields to play.
- Improvised travelling and accommodation facilities.
- International home series and franchise tournaments like WPL were highly prioritized.
- Stadium filled with enthusiastic fans to keep the players cheered at all times.
- The players’ selection system became stronger than ever before.
- Coaching and support staff for the women’s team started to get better.
- Indian women’s team matches are broadcast all over the world.
- Inauguration of WPL in 2023 to elevate women’s cricket, where uncapped female youngsters get an opportunity to compete against the international stars.
- And so on…
2017 ODI World Cup: A Turning Point in Indian Women’s Cricket
Team India exhibited a stunning performance in the ODI World Cup 2017, but failed to clinch the trophy after losing to England by 9 runs in the final match. This was the second instance India qualified for the tournament’s final, with the first one back in 2005.
Especially, the single game against a stronger side like Australia in the tournament changed the reputation of Indian women’s cricketers forever. It elevated the scale of women’s cricket to a great extent.
Harmanpreet Kaur’s unbeaten 71-run knock against the Aussies in the semi-final ranked as one of the most notable knocks in the history of women’s cricket. Her performance attracted lakhs of Indian fans to women’s cricket.
This is where fans started to get familiarized with the names of Indian female cricketers.
Experts believe that the 2017 World Cup was the starting point for Indian women’s cricket to explode at an international level. Since then, the women cricketers have been achieving a step-by-step success in the following ways:
- Increase in central contract revenue, match fees, and broadcasters.
- Players’ popularity and fan base have been increasing on social media.
- Big sponsorship brands started to collaborate with the Indian female cricketers.
2025 ODI World Cup: An Achievement That Indian Women’s Cricket Waited For Decades
Under Harmanpreet Kaur’s captaincy, Team India clinched their first-ever ICC trophy by winning the Women’s World Cup 2025 final against South Africa by 52 runs.
This wasn’t a trophy win, but a historical triumph and a reward to dedicate to the efforts of BCCI and those thousands of female cricketers who fought hard for several years for the progress of the Indian women’s cricket team.
Post the 2025 World Cup era, lakhs of Indian girls started to watch cricket with enjoyment and got inspired to choose the sport as their professional career rather than a hobby. Overall, the decision to merge WCAI with BCCI in 2006 wasn’t just an administrative change, but a major turning point in the history of Indian women’s cricket.