Mumbai Indians won the Women’s Premier League (Photo by INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP via Getty Images) … [+]
Indian cricket legend Harmanpreet Kaur was euphoric, roaring loudly into the Mumbai sky and echoed by 15,000 giddy fans at the Brabourne Stadium.
The mighty Mumbai Indians sealed their second Women’s Premier League title to become the early dominant force in this fledgling competition that has become a game changer for women’s cricket in India and globally. Players earn huge pay cheques with the broadcast value per-game around $1 million.
While the Mumbai players were jubilant, Australian cricket great Meg Lanning cut a forlorn figure after Delhi’s heart-breaking eight-run defeat.
The Delhi captain had to endure her side falling short for the third straight season. Lanning, arguably women’s cricket GOAT, has won almost every trophy when she was at the helm of the all-conquering Australia team but WPL success has proven elusive.
Meg Lanning once again had heartbreak in the WPL (Photo by INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP via Getty Images) … [+]
Lanning could not contain her disappointment. “We’re bitterly disappointed. We feel like we put ourselves into a good position to win, but that’s the game, you win some you lose some, and unfortunately, we’ve been on the wrong side,” an emotional Lanning said.
Lanning’s visible angst showed just how much the WPL means to her and underscores the heft of the tournament. It has grown in popularity and scope, with the latest edition stretching out to a month-long and geographical expansion to Vadodara and Lucknow.
There have been big leaps made in a landmark competition that only started two years ago, but this is only the beginning. The WPL will undoubtedly increase in teams in the future, with just five currently but one suspects the aim will be to mimic the men’s counterparts of the money-spinning Indian Premier League which has 10.
Remuneration is set to also keep soaring. Top players receive $400,000 and in the recent auction Mumbai’s Simran Shaikh was snapped up for $224,000, while veteran West Indian Deandra Dottin received $200,000 from Gujarat.
The backbone of the tournament comes from the serious investment that has been put into the WPL, whose five teams fetched $572 million on the back of Viacom 18 forking out $116 million for the media rights over five years.
Mumbai Indians’ players celebrate (Photo by INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP via Getty Images)
The WPL has become an inspiration for aspiring female cricketers, who once had limited pathways into the sport especially in South Asia where development for women’s cricket had been slow to develop due to lack of resources and cultural norms.
While Jay Shah does occasionally raise eyebrows, he does deserve plenty of plaudits for being the driving force behind the WPL. Given his overt nationalism, undoubtedly Shah was extremely motivated to lift the standard of India women’s cricket with the national team never having won a World Cup in either the T20 or 50-over formats.
As they steadily conquer the landscape of the men’s game, India’s restless administrators are hoping for domination across the board and to do that development through the WPL is pivotal to lifting the standards of their women’s cricket.
In the aftermath of a successful third edition of the WPL, undoubtedly, there were girls in the terraces in Delhi inspired by the deeds of their heroes and dreaming of following in their footsteps on the cricket field.
