Twelve years ago, India hosted a Women’s World Cup that barely made a dent in the country’s consciousness. Everything is different now

Sruthi Ravindranath and Shashank Kishore28-Sep-2025When India last hosted the Women’s World Cup, in 2013, marketing the sport meant herding a few hundred schoolkids in their uniforms into pockets of the stadium, to lend a bit of atmosphere to the TV coverage.Venues could be changed days before the tournament, just so the city’s biggest stadium could host a Ranji Trophy final involving Sachin Tendulkar.Match practice for India’s senior women’s team comprised games against Under-16s and Under-19s boys teams at the Police Gymkhana, after which the players would walk back to their budget rooms in South Mumbai while overseas teams checked into a five-star hotel. It was only after Diana Edulji, a former India captain, highlighted their plight in the national media that the team was eventually shifted into the hotel that housed the other teams.Related

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India could draw satisfaction from beating at-par opponents like West Indies, but even running bigger teams close felt like victory back then. Like when a wiry 23-year-old batter who dreamed of emulating Virender Sehwag batted out of her skin to briefly give England the jitters.Thirteen years on, the same hard-hitting batter is India’s captain, possibly playing in her last 50-over World Cup at 37. But this time, Harmanpreet Kaur has around her a generation of players who don’t just want to compete, but conquer. And for the first time in half a century, India’s women walk into a World Cup with every reason to believe they could be crowned champions.Thirush Kamini scored a century against West Indies in India’s first match of the 2013 World Cup•AFP/Getty ImagesThe contrast is stark. In 2013, such suggestions would have generated ridicule. Even though women’s cricket was under the BCCI’s purview, it was nowhere near as professional as it is today. Match fees barely touched INR 1 lakh for an entire tour, and daily allowances ran to INR 1500, barely enough to cover a coffee and a snack in countries like England or Australia. For players, defeat often meant checking out the next morning and finding their own way home: sometimes by taxi, sometimes by train.Players craved attention and got none. “Back then, recognition came only during a World Cup,” says former India opener Thirush Kamini, who scored a century in India’s tournament opener against West Indies in 2013. “Once you returned home, unless someone was very passionate about the game, nobody really noticed you. Today, players are recognised everywhere.”Opportunities were scarce. “Probably, I would say, the platform with which the girls are being selected now to play at the highest level [is far superior],” says former India allrounder Niranjana Nagarajan, who was part of the 2013 squad.”They have a platform like WPL. And they have more tournaments to play and show their talent. That we did not have. We just had inter-zonal and challengers. And if we qualified for nationals, we’d get an extra three games. That was it. We lost out on a number of matches.”Even when players did well, their efforts would end up as one- or two-column stories at the peripheries of the sports pages. Instagram was still too new, too basic, and too niche to turn their magic moments viral.”For the men’s team, if Sanju Samson isn’t picked, you ask why. If Shreyas Iyer performs in the IPL and isn’t selected, questions are raised,” Thirush says. This wasn’t the case with women’s cricket in her time, but it’s changed now.”Now when Shafali [Verma] is not getting picked, the selectors are asked why she’s not getting picked. The players who had played during the previous era didn’t even understand why they were not getting picked.”I understand it’s going to be a lot of pressure on a player like Shafali. But when you look at the flip side, I feel she at least has a clarity that she’s still in the scheme of things and she’s just not part of this World Cup. When you’re talking about players getting paid equally, it’s not just about infrastructure or facilities. It’s also about expectations, and that kind of scrutiny should stay.”

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Mithali Raj, who was 14 years into her international career at the 2013 World Cup, was one of two recognisable names in the sport, Jhulan Goswami being the other. Even so, the fact that Mithali had already led India to a World Cup final in 2005 barely shifted the needle of public attention.”When I got my hundred, Mithali was at the other end,” Thirush recalls. “A journalist asked how it felt to beat her record. She just turned to me with a smile and said, ‘Go ahead, it’s your moment.’ That generosity is what made them such great leaders.”Today, the landscape is completely different. Players train at state-of-the-art facilities, compete in thriving T20 leagues in India and abroad, and play the best oppositions as a matter of routine. In the lead-up to this World Cup, India toured England and hosted world champions Australia. A far cry from the time they’d settle for practice matches against men’s age-group teams.Jemimah Rodrigues was once Tendulkar’s neighbour in Mumbai. One of the things that inspired her to play cricket was seeing him arrive home to exuberant celebrations. Harmanpreet was captivated by Sehwag’s fearlessness and his habit of starting his innings with boundaries. Today, aspiring cricketers look at Smriti Mandhana’s cover drive, Harmanpreet’s sweep, and Radha Yadav’s athleticism for inspiration.In 2025, India’s women players are in the midst of a revolution – equal pay, record prize money, and a fan following that travels to see them play and train.In 2013, Mithali Raj (second from left) was one of two widely known women cricketers in India•AFPBucket Hat Cult, a dedicated fan group for women’s cricket, are set for their biggest outing yet. The 25-member group, which officially came together in 2023, travel to “as many India games as possible”, and will be out in force in Navi Mumbai for their first ODI Women’s World Cup. “We want to create as much buzz as we can,” they say.India’s run to the final of the 2017 World Cup was hailed as a turning point for women’s cricket in the country, but the BCCI may have been a tad late in harnessing that wave. Once they did, however, with the 2023 launch of the WPL, interest in the sport has surged. WPL 2025 recorded a 142% spike in TV viewership, drawing 31 million viewers. Even Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s trophy celebration in 2024 drew a full house at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, where the men’s team gave them a guard of honour.It feels like a dream sometimes, but it’s very much real. And after years of anonymity, this is the players’ time to shine.

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Three of the four venues for this World Cup haven’t hosted a women’s international in the last five years. Outside of Mumbai, most of India’s recent matches have been in Bengaluru, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Delhi. Among them, Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy and Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium have drawn strong crowds, helped by the WPL’s presence.DY Patil is expected to draw big numbers again, but the spotlight now shifts to less familiar venues: Guwahati, Indore and Visakhapatnam. India last played in Guwahati in 2019, in Vizag back in 2014, and have never played in Indore. Local connection could help, with each of these cities represented in the squad. And playing the World Cup in these cities may be a “blessing in disguise”, Niranjana feels.”Women’s cricket is always taking place in Bengaluru and Mumbai, of course the reach and ticket sales will probably be more there,” she says. “But when will we expose women’s cricket to other places?”Girls there will probably pick up a bat after watching the tournament. The reach will get better. I am definitely happy because these places are maybe not as big for women’s cricket but considering this is an ICC tournament, it is definitely a good thing. Those people can also experience women’s cricket as one of its kind.”Kranti Goud is evidence of women’s cricket having spread deep into India’s hinterlands•Getty ImagesUma Chetry, who hails from Guwahati, is the first woman from the state of Assam to represent India. She carries the hopes of a region that seemed unlikely to produce international players a decade ago. In the last year alone, it has produced two – Riyan Parag, an IPL captain no less, is the other.In Kadapa, a few hours away from Visakhapatnam, N Shree Charani’s skills first took shape in gully cricket, where she’d bowl left-arm fast. In 2018-19, Charani’s maternal uncle, who had grown up playing cricket in Hyderabad, persuaded her parents to send her for cricket trials.She caught the eyes of the age-group coaches who were amazed at her athleticism – Charani was a promising track-and-field athlete in school. Today, on the back of an impressive initiation in the WPL, where she plays alongside Meg Lanning, Charani, who now bowls left-arm spin, has a platform to share a stage with the world’s best.Kranti Goud’s journey from Ghuwara, a small town 450km from Indore, to the national team, punctuated by a six-wicket-haul in England, reflects how scouting, WPL performances, and exposure are reshaping India’s talent pool.From struggling for recognition in 2013 to commanding attention and respect in 2025, women’s cricket in India has come a long way. This World Cup could finally give the players a stage that is theirs to own.

While the selectors named an expanded squad, barring injuries the final choice comes down to two players from three

Alex Malcolm05-Nov-20253:09

Australia’s Ashes squad: No Konstas, Labuschagne to open?

It all hinges on Green’s bowling capability

It was known from a long way out that Cameron Green and Beau Webster would be picked in the squad together. The two have played in the same XI in Australia’s last four Test matches. But Green was a specialist batter at No. 3, a spot he had only batted in once in first-class cricket prior, and was not bowling with Marnus Labuschagne opening in one of them before Sam Konstas replaced Labuschagne in the other three.Related

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Green ended up playing very well in the last two Tests on very difficult pitches in West Indies and was arguably Australia’s best batter across those matches. But now that he’s back bowling, the need for two allrounders as opposed to a better structured batting line-up comes into question.However, Green’s bowling progression from back surgery has not quite gone to plan. He has been bowling in the nets since June without interruption, but has only sent down four overs in matches so far. Some minor side soreness saw him withdrawn from bowling in the last Shield game. He instead bowled in the nets and on the centre wicket post game in order to control the intensity.It is understood he has bowled up to 8-10 overs across multiple spells in singular net sessions already. Bailey confirmed he would bowl 15-20 overs in Western Australia’s next Shield game against Queensland at the WACA ground starting on November 11, which would equate to roughly 8-10 overs per innings. How he gets through those overs and how he bowls from a skill perspective could dictate the shape of the Test XI.If he gets through unscathed and bowls well, and the selectors are confident he can deliver the same if not more in the first Test, that will spell bad news for Webster if the selectors believe the sum of Australia’s parts look better with one allrounder and three specialist top three batters. Webster has done nothing wrong in his Test career so far. He’s made four half-centuries in 12 innings on difficult pitches, averaging 34.63 at No.6. By comparison, Green has averaged 38.72 in his last 12 Test innings with all bar one coming at Nos. 3-4 including his 174 not out in Wellington and his recent scores of 52, 46, and 42 on the nightmare pitches in the Caribbean.Webster also has eight wickets at 23.25 but has benefited from those same pitches with the ball. Green’s home Test record with the ball is far superior to even Webster’s Shield record. Green has 22 Test wickets at 25.63 in Australia, striking at 52.1 including dismissing Joe Root, Zak Crawley and Ben Stokes twice each and Ollie Pope once in the 2021-22 Ashes series.Jake Weatherald’s 94 against WA was his standout innings so far this season•Getty Images

Weatherald could complement Khawaja

The selectors have been desperate to find a solution at the top of the order since David Warner retired. If Green can bowl the requisite overs, and Webster is squeezed out, then Jake Weatherald will be the sixth different opener to partner Usman Khawaja in the last 15 Test matches since Warner retired.Unlike the elevations of Steven Smith, Travis Head and Labuschagne, and the selections of Nathan McSweeney and Konstas, Weatherald is clearly the best performed domestic red-ball opener in Australia over the last 12 months. He has scored 1391 runs at 53.50 in 26 innings since the start of last summer with four centuries and seven half-centuries for Tasmania and Australia A. The fact that Matt Renshaw was so highly fancied by many to pip Weatherald for selection when Renshaw has made 653 first-class runs at 34.36 with three centuries and one fifty in the same period was odd.Beyond the runs, Bailey was extremely complimentary of Weatherald’s style. He has made his runs at a brisk strike rate of 68.65. Khawaja’s Test career rate is 48.56 while Labuschagne struck at 41.47 in his last 14 Test innings before he was dropped. There were times against India last summer where the scoreboard was not moving and it led to Konstas’ inclusion. But Bailey noted that Weatherald’s repeatable method, his first-class experience and the fact his game does not change innings to innings was a big reason for his selection ahead of Konstas.Bailey cited Weatherald’s recent match-winning innings of 94 off 99 against Western Australia in a low-scoring Shield game in Hobart as an example of what he can bring.”That innings is a good example, I think, of what Jake does really well,” Bailey said. “I thought he counter-attacked. It was a wicket that had a little bit in it. Others around him were finding it challenging, and he put pressure back onto the bowlers. And the way he did that, he drove nicely, played off the back foot nicely, he was busy. I think that’s a good example of what he looks like at his best.”Marnus Labuschagne has made five centuries in his last eight innings•Getty Images

Labuschagne opens or bats at No.3

Despite Bailey saying that no decisions have been made on the XI with 16 days to go, it is clear Labuschagne is locked in to return. It would be ridiculous to leave him out after five centuries in his last eight domestic innings for Queensland when the selectors specifically asked him to go away and find his best game after axing him in the Caribbean.But the decision on Green and Webster will dictate where Labuschagne bats. All of his runs for Queensland have come at No. 3. Australia’s selectors do not direct state teams to bat players in certain positions. Labuschagne, as Queensland captain, has batted himself at No. 3 in all those games. It is his preferred position and where he has scored all 11 of his Test centuries. However, he does have two first-class centuries opening the batting and did open in the WTC final. Bailey stopped short of guaranteeing Labuschagne would return to No. 3.”No, not necessarily,” Bailey said. “I think Marn’s got a game that could sit anywhere. It could be three. I think I’ve said a lot in the past if you can bat in the top three, you’ve probably got a skill set that’s capable of opening the batting. I think a lot of those things will be determined by what other resources you need and the makeup of those around you, and is it complementary?”People clearly have spots where they’ve batted the majority of their career and they all have different records when they do change position. But he can bat three, he could open. He’s got the skillset for both, but he’s been looking pretty good of late.”The question of players complementing each other is the biggest hint Bailey could give as to the preferred order. It is clear that the selectors would prefer Khawaja and Labuschagne don’t open together. Labuschagne’s most prolific batting partnerships in Tests have come batting with Warner, Smith, Head and Matthew Wade. He’s averaged above 50 with all four who are busy and free-flowing players at their best and has had multiple century stands with each. He’s had 48 Test partnerships with Khawaja by comparison and averaged 31.61, albeit with two century stands. There is a thought within the Australian camp that Labuschagne is a batting chameleon of sorts in the way that he can mimic his partners style. Whether that is still the case with the remodelled Labuschagne, time will tell.But if Labuschagne is back to his best, then a return of a No.3-4-5 combination of Labuschagne, Smith and Head will certainly look more challenging for England’s attack to penetrate than any alternative.

Lack of fixtures against top opposition and almost no experience in T20 leagues has hindered the development of batters in these teams

Sruthi Ravindranath19-Oct-2025Bangladesh had England under pressure at 78 for 5.Pakistan had Australia struggling at 115 for 8, and had tied England down to 133 for 9.Sri Lanka had India six down for just 124.The three teams at the bottom of the women’s World Cup points table – Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – have shown they can test stronger sides with the ball. They have also shown that their batting is not good enough to win them matches against the bigger teams.This tournament hasn’t been a run fest: there have been only two first-innings scores of 300-plus, both on flat pitches in Indore and Visakhapatnam. But even when conditions have favoured batting, those three South Asian teams haven’t been able to capitalise.Related

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Against Australia in Visakhapatnam, Bangladesh stumbled to 198 for 9 before losing by ten wickets inside 25 overs. Against South Africa, Bangladesh were crawling until Shorna Akter fired them to 232, which ultimately proved inadequate.These three sides have the lowest batting averages at this World Cup. Pakistan are at the bottom with 13.55, followed by Bangladesh (19.92) and Sri Lanka (20.27). Between the previous World Cup in 2022 and this one, they had occupied the bottom three spots in batting averages among the eight teams in this tournament.What’s holding them back?Their limited exposure against high-quality opposition has often been highlighted as a reason their batting hasn’t developed. Bangladesh’s World Cup opener against England was only their second ODI against them. Sri Lanka hadn’t faced Australia in the format since 2019, and their fixture in this World Cup was washed out.Nilakshika Silva has been promising for Sri Lanka•Getty Images”This is a stage where we show our capabilities, so teams like England and Australia show interest in playing against us,” Nigar Sultana, Bangladesh captain, had said before the match against England.”Our girls are playing very few matches with those who are ranked top four in the world,” Bangladesh allrounder Rumana Ahmed told ESPNcricinfo. “So the fewer the number of matches they play against such teams, the less competitive matches they play, the lower their confidence will be.”Rumana isn’t at the World Cup squad this time, but she has been watching closely. She sees a team performing beyond expectations. “Yes, we lost by a very small margin [against England and South Africa] due to some inexperience. But they barely got to play enough international matches before the tournament. The way they are playing without that preparation is truly impressive. It is really good to see some batters who are batting very confidently, like Sobhana [Mostary], Supta [Sharmin Akhter], Shorna [Akter]. If the middle order had scored a few more runs, maybe our team could have put up a better fight against bigger teams.”The inexperience Rumana refers to is not just in terms of technique but also when it comes to handling pressure, with Bangladesh’s fielding costing them multiple times. There were several misfields and three dropped chances against South Africa. Sri Lanka, too, dropped Nat Sciver-Brunt on 3 before she scored a match-winning 117.0:58

Nawaz: ‘We are not being able to build momentum with the bat’

“Those subcontinent sides [Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka], I think their strengths have been with the ball,” Nasser Hussain, a commentator at the World Cup, said at a JioStar event. “Sometimes they’ve not been backed up in the field. But I do think the batting is where the improvement needs to come, if we’re going to get an upset in this World Cup. I think if there’s one area that could be improved on, it’s the power-hitting. You look at the stats of power-hitting sixes from Bangladesh and Pakistan, to a degree Sri Lanka, I think that is an area which could improve.”Sometimes it’s just a physical thing – like they have to use their wrists a bit more, they have to sweep, slog sweep, reverse sweep. With their bowling and their spinners, and Marufa [Akter] for Bangladesh, they will challenge any side, but not when you’re only getting [totals of] 150, 160, 170, because the other nations, as we saw with Bangladesh [against Australia] will stroll past that.”Power-hitting has emerged as a key skill with the rise of franchise leagues, most recently with three seasons of the WPL in India. Since 2023, India’s ODI run rate has climbed to 5.69 from the 4.47 they scored at between 2015 and 2020. Their boundary percentage has also gone up, from 41.15% in 2023 to over 52% in 2025. India also play top-tier sides regularly unlike the rest of the subcontinent teams.With this not being a high-scoring World Cup, the number of dot balls has also come in focus. Bangladesh (69.28%), Pakistan (68.85%) and Sri Lanka (60.58%) have the highest dot-ball percentages while batting. Unlike India, players from these teams barely have any presence in overseas leagues. Chamari Athapaththu remains the sole representative from Sri Lanka – and the only active player from these three nations – to have featured in the WBBL and the WPL (though players from Pakistan can’t play in the WPL). Sri Lanka have seen flashes of range-hitting from her and Nilakshika Silva but they remain the exceptions.

“With Pakistan, they had the likes of Bismah Maroof, Javeria Khan and Nida Dar until a while ago, who used to play key roles for them. The players they have now used to play supporting roles for them”Former India batter Thirush Kamini

Rumana believes power-hitting needs training beyond the nets, and the lack of it once again comes down to the exposure these teams (don’t) get.”It’s very difficult to develop it just by practising. You need to use such shots tactically too,” Rumana says. “This means that you have to be involved in T20 or T10 leagues across the globe. If I take good teams like India and Australia, their development has been from the WPL and Women’s Big Bash [League]. If something like Women’s BPL [Bangladesh premier League] had been there in Bangladesh, maybe the power-hitting of the women’s team would have improved.”While slow pitches for domestic cricket at home have helped develop spinners, it has hindered batting progress. The Bangladesh men’s white-ball game began to evolve after a shift away from spin-friendly pitches. The BPL played a role in improving range-hitting.Sri Lanka head coach Rumesh Ratnayake acknowledged the need to assess domestic pitches, while also expressing concern over his batters’ inability to convert starts. “I think that’s a long-term goal of looking into the domestic level,” he said. “But when you’re here, we were well prepared for this. It’s a bit disappointing as a coach when [starts] don’t go into the 50s and to the big hundreds. The girls are aware of it. It’s a matter of how we should be putting it to them and it’s very important that we are very sensitive in putting it across so that they’ll be encouraged and not discouraged.”1:24

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Still, there has been some progress. In this World Cup, Sri Lanka have crossed 200 twice, while Bangladesh have once. However, Pakistan’s highest total is 159, with Sidra Amin their only player to score a fifty.”Sri Lanka’s average score used to be less than 200 at one point but now it’s improved,” Thirush Kamini, former India batter, said. “That’s what we should be seeing here – though the improvement is taking time, it’s still there, and we need to give them a little bit more time and exposure to be on par with the other teams.”These three teams have experienced spin departments. They have not changed their bowling much but that can’t be said of the batting. Their spinners have been leading wicket-takers for several years now. With Pakistan, they had the likes of Bismah Maroof, Javeria Khan and Nida Dar until a while ago who used to play key roles for them. The players they have now used to play supporting roles for them. Suddenly when you have your main players retired and have come out of the system, the pressure is on those who played the supporting roles before.”Bangladesh are set to face India, Australia, England, South Africa and New Zealand across formats in the current FTP cycle, with Sri Lanka and Pakistan also scheduled to play several top sides. These series present crucial opportunities for growth, particularly with the bat, for these sides before the next World Cup.

A look at their scoring rates begins to point to the reasons for this long-standing problem

Andrew Fidel Fernando12-Sep-2025For longer than ten years, a little over half of international T20 cricket’s lifespan so far, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have nursed woeful run rates. The stats are pretty clear. Of the ten top-ranked men’s T20I teams, they have the two worst run rates since 2015.A ten-plus year span is clearly many ages in T20 cricket, the fastest moving and now most-played of cricket’s formats. And yet Bangladesh and Sri Lanka’s loyalty to the bottom of this table has seen extraordinary consistency. Between 2015 and the end of 2019 they were eighth (Bangladesh) and tenth (Sri Lanka) on the table, and since 2020 they are eighth (Sri Lanka) and tenth (Bangladesh). If you’re looking for more recent history – since the start of 2024 – they are eighth (Sri Lanka) and ninth (Bangladesh), just ahead of Afghanistan. But unlike Afghanistan, neither Sri Lanka or Bangladesh qualified for the semi-final of the last World Cup.We’re mostly interested in only the run rate for this section, but just to illustrate how abysmal these teams’ batting has been, we’ve also incorporated batting average into this graph.