Now, for a women's IPL

Or, how BCCI can sustain the market for female cricketers

The women’s cricket team will be gratified by the cash and other rewards heaped on them after a gallant showing in the just concluded women’s World Cup, losing by a mere nine runs to England in a thriller final on Sunday. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced a cash award of Rs 50 lakh for each player; Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has promised out-of-turn promotions for those nine members of the 15-member squad who work for the railways, including captain fantastic Mithali Raj; and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has offered star batsman Harmanpreet Kaur the post of deputy superintendent in the state police. Generous though this outpouring of appreciation may be, it is unlikely to help the cause of women’s cricket in India unless the BCCI strengthens the institutional foundations that sustain the sport. Even today, like most sportspeople in India, Indian women cricketers ply their skills only courtesy the informal support of state institutions through nominal jobs in utilities and banks. This used to be the case with men cricketers, too, until corporate sponsorship and the Indian Premier League (IPL) created a viable sporting property and, thereby, a relatively stable livelihood for cricketers outside the monopsony of the national team. 

The same strategy could be applied profitably to women’s cricket. The record-breaking viewership for the women’s World Cup and ticket sell-out at Lord’s for the final suggests that women’s cricket is sufficiently popular to warrant a women’s IPL. A modest state-level domestic T20 league for women exists and could easily be expanded to accommodate international stars and privately owned teams. So far, the only alternative market for women cricketers comes from the Women’s Super League in the UK and the Australian Women’s Big Bash League — where two stars of the just concluded World Cup, Kaur and Smriti Mandhana, were playing. The experience of world tennis has demonstrated that according equal coverage and, with the exception of the Grand Slams, equal prize money has been enormously beneficial for women’s tennis. Likewise, it is no coincidence that the improvement in Indian women’s cricket came after the BCCI offered them fixed contracts – 11 years after the practice was introduced for men – higher match fees and business-class travel, like the men, for international matches. 

But there is a long way to go. When the male stars of the Indian Super League football tournament – most of whom would struggle for a place in a European B team – can earn between Rs 26 lakh and Rs 50 lakh a season, it seems bizarre that Indian women cricketers, many of whom are world class, earn between Rs 15 lakh and Rs 30 lakh a year. Indeed, in a country in which gender inequality is a chronic societal problem, the transformational impact of a women’s IPL would go well beyond the playing field. Plus, if Indian women cricketers, with relatively inferior pay, facilities and greater societal prejudices have been able to compete successfully against teams from developed sporting nations, the possibilities once they have the wherewithal to focus on their sport for a living can only be imagined.