Beyond the Boundary: The Women Who Changed India’s Game - Article by Parag Biswas

When God created man, He also created woman…..

The word ‘woman’ encompasses the word ‘man’ – she shows a man what love and care, sharing and sacrificing are all about. The origin of a child is a mother, and she is a woman. It is not said for nothing that “the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.” In the apron string of the woman is hidden the great power which can make a paradise on Earth.

Ironically, they, who constitute one half of the world and without whose presence the survival of the world is unimaginable, get very few special days in their lives.

One such special day was November 2 this year, when the Indian women’s cricket team clinched their first-ever ICC Women’s World Cup title, thrashing South Africa by 52 runs at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai.

Soon after the country erupted in celebrations after the unprecedented victory, many skeletons started tumbling out of the closet as the coaches, parents, guardians and family members of most of the players in the winning XI started spilling the beans on their harrowing experiences during the grooming days of their kids.

It began with Shafali Verma’s father, Sanjay Verma, revealing to media persons soon after the match that the Haryana-born powerhouse had to literally disguise herself as a boy just to get a chance to play.

Sanjay, the owner of a small jewellery shop in Rohtak, recalled how he had to shave her daughter’s hair short, dress her like a boy, and enrol her in a boys’ academy. He remembered how every day, little Shafali would face fast bowlers, who thought she was “one of the guys,” and how every day, she smashed them to all corners of the ground till they realised what an exceptional talent she was.

Vivek Sarkar, the first coach of yet another fierce hitter Richa Ghosh, who hit the maximum number of sixes in the tournament, told this correspondent a day after the final match that they were at sixes and sevens as to what will be the reaction of the parents and guardians of the boys in their coaching camp at the Baghajatin Athletic Club in Siliguri if they accepted her father’s request to groom her there. “When Richa came for training with us at the age of six, she was the only female trainee at our clinic, as parents in those days did not allow their daughters to take up cricket. We had to face a lot of objections from the parents and guardians of the boys at our camp, but we were determined to train them. She was an all-rounder in the beginning and later became a wicketkeeper. She practised with boys and faced male bowlers at the nets, which improved her batting enormously,” recalled the ageing trainer, who regretted that parents and guardians still did not allow their daughters to play cricket.

Bhupinder Singh, the father of Amanjot Kaur, who held on to a brilliant catch during the final that helped India lift the World Cup, shared Sarkar’s sentiments.

A carpenter from Mohali, Singh, recalled how he was taunted by his friends, neighbours and relatives when little Amanjot began playing cricket with boys.

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur’s trophy-winning catch in the final, therefore, not only ended a decades-long wait by India for Women’s Cricket World Cup glory, but also it was a testament of the resilience and determination of each member in the team.

The victory brought to light the stories of the extremely arduous struggles of Shafali, Richa, Amanjot and other players, which made experts wonder if the historic win would change the face of women’s cricket in India or if the Indian Women Hockey Team’s silver medal at the Women’s Asia Cup 2025 in Hangzhou, China on September 14 this year change the way people look at women’s hockey in India.

There is no denying the fact that the players of the women’s World Cup-winning team are currently getting unprecedented attention. They are basking in media glare; experts are talking in superlatives about their abilities, and reams are being written in their praise.

The players of the winning team, like Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana,

Jemimah Rodrigues and Shafali Verma have shot to fame and become household names in just a week. Many of the fans and supporters, who poured onto the streets to celebrate India’s glorious victory, admitted that they had begun following the Indian team only after they learned that their team had entered the semi-final.

There is no denying that Indian women have made some mammoth strides in the field of sports over the past few decades, overcoming many seemingly insurmountable challenges and achieving remarkable successes in different disciplines at the national and international levels. While Sania Mirza inspired many girls to follow her example and take up sports as a career, Karnam Malleswari’s bronze medal in weightlifting at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, which marked the first Olympic medal for an Indian woman, inspired a new generation of female sportspersons such as Mary Kom, Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, Sakshi Malik and Manu Bhaker, who put up some exceptionally brilliant performances at the international arena.

However, as Jayanta Bhowmick, the first coach of former Indian wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha from Siliguri, observed, aspiring women athletes and players in the country still face gender discrimination and societal barriers.

The ace trainer pointed out that there were very few towns and cities in the country where girls could practice any sport properly. “There is plenty of talent among the girls in our country, but there is a huge dearth of proper facilities for them. It is a pity that there is no proper cricket ground in many towns, where aspiring women cricketers can practice under the able guidance of qualified groomers,” he lamented.

Arjuna award-winning international table tennis player and national coach Mantu Ghosh, who agreed with Bhowmick, recalled how she had to face several hurdles and tremendous resistance from various quarters during her training days before she won the national championships twice in 1991 and 1993. “The women sportspersons do not get proper support and facilities in our country only because of the general perception that girls should not play any sport and should concentrate on studies and learn household chores during their growing years.

Over the past few years, however, with greater importance being given to women’s sports, this perception is changing, though at a snail’s pace. The Indian women’s cricket team has no doubt achieved an incredible feat. Still, since public memory is proverbially short, they shall have to continue to perform consistently to ensure that women’s cricket in the country remains at the pinnacle of success and

Inspire parents and guardians to perceive the sport as a viable career option and send their daughters to the playing field to help them become another star cricketer,” said the ace paddler, who was the joint secretary of the Table Tennis Federation of India from 2009 to 2021.