Beyond The Surface Of Tokenism: Issues Plaguing Women's Cricket

After centuries of gender discourse, the distinction between equality and equity is still unclear to many. ‘Well-meaning’ folk keep making glib comparisons and get exasperated when told the reality is more nuanced than that. But life throws constant examples of the latter, rejecting one-size-fits-all notions. Abhishek Nayar, an established men’s cricket mentor, took the reins of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) franchise, UP Warriorz, this season and had the legendary Meg Lanning by his side as captain. Lanning had led Australia to five World Cup titles across formats, while Nayar was Kolkata Knight Riders’ batting coach when they lifted the Indian Premier League (IPL) trophy in 2024. Yet, the 42-year-old former India international admitted that his initiation to the job was "not easy". 

“I’m wrapping my head around it… In women’s cricket, the attention to detail is a little more, so sometimes you need to break it down in a lot of ways, and it’s not as obvious as you think it is. It’s a more hands-on job,” Nayar said after his decision to retire out star batter Harleen Deolbackfired in a game. Even Amol Muzumdar, the man who guided India to their watershed Women’s World Cup glory, said that he had to “unlearn and re-learn a few things” when he took up the role. 

Women’s cricket has never sought to ‘match’ the men’s version; it has yearned to be looked at as a self-sustaining, independent entity. The shift is finally apparent, but would that have been possible without the spotlight? It’s a fact that the first-ever Women’s World Cup was held in 1973, two years prior to the inaugural men’s tournament. Nevertheless, when a certain Mithali Raj started playing cricket, she did not know that India had a national team. The sport was managed by the Women’s Cricket Association of India at the time, and pioneers like Diana Edulji and Shantha Rangaswamy were putting in money from their own pockets to continue representing the country. Telecast was a distant dream. 

The journey from then to now has been remarkable. The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) pay parity initiative in 2022 was without doubt a step in the right direction and long overdue. The WPL’s advent turbo-charged the transformation, and Harmanpreet Kaur and Co’s global triumph brought them to the forefront of national conversation. However, there is still plenty of work to be done behind the scenes. 

Parity On Paper 

More than three years have elapsed since the BCCI introduced equal match fees for its centrally contracted women’s and men’s players. Both sets of cricketers are paid Rs 15 lakh each for a Test, Rs 6 lakh for a one-dayer and Rs 3 lakh for a T20 international. But for actual parity, the number of matches for both teams needs to be similar. In 2025, the men competed in 10 Tests, while the women did not play any; the last time they appeared in whites was back in June 2024, and they’ve played a sum total of five red-ball games over the past 11 years. The ODI count was far better—23 as against the men’s 14—though that was boosted by a quadrennial World Cup. The difference was stark again in the T20Is: 10 versus 22. 

Several factors go into ascertaining the fixtures assigned to the Indian sides each year, some of them logistical and others commercial. The WPL is addressing the monetary aspect swiftly, with a Rs 951 crore broadcast rights deal for five years demonstrating a strong product-market fit. There’sa big likelihood of the league growing in size sooner rather than later, with more franchises entering the fray. However, disconcerting incidents across fields of play indicate that financial validation is not the be-all and end-all for a women’s sport. 

In July-August 2025, sex toys were thrown on court during multiple Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) matches. The acts evoked disbelief, followed by mirth and then frustration among players and support staff. Minnesota Lynx’s head coach Cheryl Reeve minced no words in making her stance known. “This has been going on for centuries. The sexualisation of women. This is the latest version of that. And it’s not funny and it should not be the butt of jokes on radio shows, or in print or any comments.” Members of a cryptocurrency meme-coin group reportedly claimed responsibility, instantiating the blurring line between digital and physical abuse. 

Back home, a motorcyclist molested two Australian cricketers in Indore amid the World Cup, which Madhya Pradesh Cabinet Minister KailashVijayvargiya said was “a lesson for authorities as well as the players”, who should have informed the security or administration before going out. Meanwhile, trolling was relentless in the run-up, and even during India’s victorious campaign. Hateful comments like ‘go back to the kitchen’,sexist memes and personal attacks littered the players’ social media handles. A narrow defeat to England in the group stage sparked entitled reactions from influencers as well as some sports journalists, who asked why the team was not performing despite everything ‘handed out’ to it by the BCCI. The eventual triumph did shut it all out, leading to opportunistic adulation. Yet the underlying ‘quality of cricket’ argument from naysayers, who value brute six-hitting strength and bowling speeds over finesse and skills, lingers. 

Indian women’s cricket will need a virtuous cycle to make those biases redundant and foster long-term growth. For that to happen, change has to be driven bottom-up, from the grassroots, rather than top-down. In addition to increased investment at the age-group, district levels and a robust support system, the gender ratio in the executive echelons needs to improve across the board. When budding female cricketers see more women as coaches at academies, umpires at tournaments and selectors in state associations, they will find it easier to take the leap and go professional. Even if the men in power are not actively prejudiced, their predominance in the ecosystem can only be a hindrance to equitable opportunities for women candidates and players too. 

The issue persists globally. Consider the 2025 ODI World Cup itself, where the Jay Shah-headed International Cricket Council (ICC) proudly announced an all-female officiating panel. Though such a composition was unprecedented in the marquee event, it concealed the lack of representation at the highest level. The ICC’s elite panels of match referees or umpires have no women, whereas just a solitary female umpire is part of the 43-member development panel. 

Further, the WPL-women’s cricket success story cannot and should not mask the systemic issues women face in other sports disciplines in India. Beyond cricket, funding disparities, poor infrastructure, discrimination and media neglect are rampant, not to mention safety concerns and harassment from officials. A junior hockey coach was recently arrested in Haryana’s Rewari district for allegedly raping a minor girl who got pregnant and suffered a miscarriage, while national-level coach Ankush Bhardwaj was accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old shooter in Faridabad. The prevalence of such instances makes claims of empowering women through sports ring hollow, and strengthens the belief that championships, trophies and medals are won despite the system, not because of it.