Playing Unseen: The Slow Rise Of Women’s Cricket In India
For decades, women’s cricket in India lived in the margins, dismissed as a ‘man’s game’, underfunded and poorly supported, with players earning as little as Rs 1,000 per match even during the 2005 World Cup. While cricket dominated our sporting culture, opportunities for women remained fragile. Structural changes began in 2006 with the women’s association merging with the BCCI. Real momentum came much later: equal match fees in 2022 and the Women’s Premier League in 2023, finally brought visibility and professional recognition. Long before these shifts, girls like Kashvee Gautam were already playing. Often unnoticed—blending into gully games with boys, waking before dawn to practise in public parks, cycling through lanes to avoid being recognised in school uniforms that didn’t feel like their own. This photo essay traces that journey through the people and spaces that shaped her: parents, coaches, and a generation of women who pursued cricket when the system barely acknowledged them.
Seema Sharma and Sudesh Kumar, parents of Kashvee Gautam, at their home in Zirakhpur, looking at a poster marking her professional milestones. ‘We are only proud,’ they say. | Photo: Suresh K Pandey/Outlook
Coach Nagesh Gupta, who began coaching Kashvee Gautam when she was just 13 years old. Gautam was also his first female student. | Photo: Suresh K Pandey/Outlook
Eight-year-old Sanyuri, who trains at the same academy and wants to bowl like Kashvee. | Photo: Suresh K Pandey/Outlook
One of the girls practicing in the nets with other female students at Nagesh Gupta's academy in Zirakhpur. | Photo: Suresh K Pandey/Outlook
Young boys and girls practising together at Nagesh Gupta's academy. | Photo: Suresh K Pandey/Outlook
A young girl bowling inside the nets at Nagesh Gupta's academy in Zirakhpur. | Photo: Suresh K Pandey/Outlook
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