From sleeping in dormitories with no attached toilets, struggling to find funds for travel and sharing cricket kits, to now playing in front of packed stadiums and chasing a World Cup title, Indian women’s cricket has travelled an extraordinary distance. As Harmanpreet Kaur’s India prepare to face South Africa in the Women’s World Cup final at the DY Patil Stadium on Sunday, pioneers Shantha Rangaswamy and Nutan Gavaskar reflected on the sport’s remarkable evolution — from days of hardship and neglect to a new era of recognition and hope.
“There was no money, no sponsors, and foreign tours were an ordeal. But there were women of steel who believed the show must go on,” said Nutan Gavaskar, one of the torchbearers of the women’s cricket movement and former secretary of the Women’s Cricket Association of India (WCAI), which was formed in 1973.
Nutan, younger sister of legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, recalled how players once played purely for passion and pride. “We were told that women’s cricket wasn’t a professional sport. There was no money since we were not considered professionals,” she said.
She spoke of the struggle to raise funds for international tours — from players staying with NRI families in New Zealand to actor Mandira Bedi donating her commercial earnings so that the team could afford air tickets for an England tour. “Air India sometimes sponsored tickets because the players were representing the country,” she said.
Equipment was scarce, and even cricket bats were shared. “A team would have just three bats. Two openers had two, and the No. 3 used the third one. When an opener got out, No. 4 would take her bat and pads,” she laughed.
Reflecting on the heady days of the 1970s and 1980s, Nutan would recall interstate matches where some teams had as few as three willows.
“I have witnessed this in national competitions. Personal kits were costly and it would be a luxury. A team would have three bats. Two openers had two willows and No. 3 had the other bat. Once an opener was out, the No. 4 would get her bat and the leg guards,” she laughed.
There were train journeys from 36 to 48 hours in general compartments and women paid the train fare from their pockets.”Attached toilets were a luxury. Often, teams would stay in dormitories with four washrooms for 20 people and they were often not clean. The daal would be served from a big plastic vessel as the local association organised tournaments on a shoestring budget.” For the likes of Diana Eduljis, Shantha Rangaswamy and Subhangi Kulkarni, match fee was an alien concept.
Shantha Rangaswamy, India’s first women’s Test captain, said those early years were marked by resilience and self-belief. “From travelling in unreserved coaches to sleeping in dormitories on the floor, we even had to carry our own bedding. We had our cricket kits on our backs like backpacks and a suitcase in one hand,” she told PTI.
Rangaswamy believes that the current team’s success is the result of decades of perseverance. “We’re so happy that the current lot are getting all the facilities. They deserve it. The foundation we laid back then, some 50 years ago, is bearing fruit now,” she said.
For pioneers like Nutan and Rangaswamy, India’s rise from those humble beginnings to the World Cup final represents not just sporting progress but the fulfilment of a dream generations in the making.
