The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia was another celebration of International Women’s Day. The final game between India and Australia was completely dominated by the latter. Until a few decades ago women in the Indian sub-continent stayed at home and seldom took up full-time careers, let alone take up sport. That, thankfully, has changed and we can now see how far women in the sub-continent have come in all walks of life.
The Indian women's cricket team has a lot of youngsters and that augurs well for the game's future. 16 year old Indian opener Shafali Verma impressed everyone with her batting prowess. The teenage sensation was the leading run-scorer for the Indians.
The success of the Australian women's team is another example why Australia is one of the leading countries to come up with world-class athletes. The Australian women’s cricket team is clearly ahead of other nations in terms of fitness and skill. The weather put paid to the India and England contest which was disappointing because I felt that the two best teams were England and Australia. Having said that, even if the final was a contest between the pommies and the Aussies, the latter would have won the contest comfortably.
What makes Australia one of the leading countries to produce world -class athletes has to do with their attitude to constantly improve and their love for sport. Perhaps the Australian weather too enables them to take part in sports and enjoy outdoor activities. What I saw during the tournament was their total commitment on the field. Their fielding was on another level compared to other teams, and that comes from the structure of coaching and the facilities available to the Australian people.
Women's cricket is growing fast. The inclusion of Thailand in the T20 World Cup and Pakistan beating the West Indies shows that the game is improving around the world. The gap in the standards of the teams is narrowing and it doesn’t necessarily have to be England v Australia at every global tournament. I believe more investment needs to be made in women’s cricket in India. Thailand has made considerable investment into the game and the results are there for all to see.
Across the world empowerment of women is gaining momentum and to see women's cricket thrive and move in the right direction is another testament to what women can achieve if they are offered a level playing field. I have no doubt that gender equality will soon become the norm in the world of cricket.
More power to women's cricket!