The 2025 World Cup promises to take women's cricket to brand-new heights

When the women's ODI World Cup was last played in India, in 2013, it came and went without causing much of a stir. A few thousand fans trickled into the stadiums, most games were played largely to silence, and only a handful of the world's best players might have been recognised beyond their immediate circles.

Twelve years on, the contrast couldn't be starker. Broadcast deals, capacity crowds, T20 leagues and globally recognised stars have transformed women's cricket. Much of this change can be traced through the lived experiences of the players who have straddled both eras - from the quiet optimism of 2013 to the roaring anticipation of 2025.

MD Thirush Kamini, who scored India's first century in women's World Cups, at the 2013 edition, still remembers the feeling of playing a global tournament at home - even if the scale wasn't what it is today.

"There might be so many things favouring you - home conditions, familiar grounds - but what was different was the atmosphere," Thirush Kamini tells ESPNcricinfo. "I wasn't anxious, but it was a new experience. Before that, I played the 2009 World Cup in Australia. There were a mix of people there, but in India, cricket is celebrated at a different level. You had your home people coming to cheer you. While people say playing is a lot of pressure, I feel it brings the best in you. It feels very special every time."

Still an active player on the domestic circuit, Thirush Kamini has had a front-row seat to the game's transformation, not just in terms of infrastructure, but in terms of mindsets.

"Even before the WPL, the BCCI had a very important rule allowing women cricketers to play the WBBL," she points out. "Indian players had the potential and skill to match Australia or England, but mentally, you always had this thing: are they a little better because they are Australian or English? But when you play alongside them, compete, and even outperform them, it brings confidence into the Indian dressing room. That reflected in our World Cup performances."

The effects were visible. From India's appearance in the final at Lord's in the 2017 ODI World Cup to the 2020 T20 World Cup, where India lost to Australia in the title clash. But what excites Thirush Kamini the most is what she sees now, week in and week out. "Earlier we used to say every over is eventful. Now, every ball is starting to be eventful. That's the kind of change I see."

South Africa allrounder Marizanne Kapp has played through almost every phase of the sport's development in the last two decades since making her international debut in 2009. For her, the game's upward curve can be measured easily in just the runs being scored.

Since the last ODI World Cup, the eight teams competing this year have combined for 34 totals of 300 or more, with Australia and India breaching 400 once each. While the average run rate between the 2009 and 2013 World Cups was 3.94 per over, it has risen to 4.84 since the 2022 edition. India's run rate in the years leading up to the 2017 World Cup was 4.35; since the 2022 iteration, it has been 5.57 - a rise of 1.22 per over. Similarly, Sri Lanka's scoring rate has risen 1.23 in the same period.

A total of 203 sixes have already been hit in 2025; for context, 208 were hit across all of 2017. Centuries have never been scored more frequently [once every 35 innings as opposed to one in 52 innings in the years leading up to the 2022 World Cup], the balls-per-boundary ratio [one in every 11.6 balls compared to one every 13 balls till 2022] has never been lower - all pointing towards the giant strides the sport has taken on the field.

This growth has been fuelled by the rise of T20 leagues to an extent - the WBBL, the WPL, the Hundred, the now-defunct Kia Super League, the WCPL - which have given players more exposure and experience, and pathways, to improve their skills.

"It's all thanks to the league probably," Kapp says. "Back then, you could score 100-130 and defend it. But now teams are scoring 300-plus regularly and getting pretty close to chasing it down if not chasing it down. So, skills-wise and the fitness side of cricket, how stronger women are now. [Earlier] slower swing bowlers could be so difficult to get away and face but now the girls are so strong. You see how high-scoring the games are, and they can clear the boundary easily. That's probably been the biggest change."

Thirush Kamini echoes the shift, not just in power, but in skill.

"Now there is a lot more individual introspection, where they work on their variations," Kamini says of the bowling. "When I play now, out of six balls, three are stock balls; the other three are variations. We used to see that in the men's game when the IPL started, and now the WPL is doing that for women.

"Because of T20 cricket, everyone knows and sees strike rates. Advancement in science is helping players have longer careers, too. For example, I would have not had access to a physio or nutrition some 10-12 years ago, but now there is a support system of professionals who are helping you have longer careers. You strive to be the best version of yourselves - not just meet team standards of the national team."

For Suzie Bates, the launch of the WPL in 2023 was the push that turned years of potential into something much, much bigger. She remembers a time when women's cricket in India was still finding its feet - before the infrastructure development, before the investment, and before the fans.

"From when I first went [to India] there's a clear passion and love for the game," Bates says. "The support that the women had when I first got there, it depended on where you were in terms of crowds and perhaps the resources they had at the domestic level.

"In comparison to New Zealand, the society in India took a little bit longer to get behind women's cricket but now they're all-in with the backing of finance and resources and the BCCI's support. They have the biggest opportunity to improve from now. The WPL, the superstars they have, the role models they have - the likes of Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues - they are going to inspire young girls.

"They were probably a little bit behind Australia and England but now they've got that system and pathway - from what I can say, I don't know the ins and outs - to really inspire that generation and grab hold of them and those systems. The game's only going to get better and stronger, so I'm excited to see the superstars that India keep producing because India makes the game so exciting for the rest of us to play over there, the fans that they have, it's a huge part of the global game."

England's Danni Wyatt-Hodge, who has been playing international cricket for the last 15 years, says the biggest change she's noticed is the visibility, on and off the field.

"I don't remember there being much of a crowd at any of the games, whereas now whenever I've played India, you always get a really good atmosphere, even if it looks like there's hardly anyone in the crowd, it's still a very loud atmosphere," she says. "Walking around the streets, even back home in England, we get spotted, which is great. Especially in India, walking down the streets in Bangalore or Mumbai, getting people coming up for selfies, which you never had before. People get recognised way more now because obviously games have shown more on TV and the skill level's gone through the roof. That's another massive one."

The money is visible, too. Ahead of the World Cup, the ICC announced that this edition would have a prize pool of US$13.88 million, almost a fourfold rise from the previous World Cup, in 2022, which had an overall pool of US$3.5 million.

"Prize money, match fees, that money, we never got that back in 2013," Wyatt-Hodge says. "It's not just the 'big four' anymore. Teams below us are getting better, which is so good to see. It makes a difference, doesn't it, when teams are fully contracted and professional?

"Sri Lanka played so well against us in England a couple of years ago, their skill level's gone through the roof. This World Cup's going to be really exciting. I think there will be a couple of upsets, hopefully not with us. Pakistan are a fantastic team too. They've got some really good youngsters coming through. So yeah, it's a great time to be involved in women's cricket."

Though Wyatt-Hodge credits England's 2017 World Cup win as a turning point that sparked growth at home, she says the Hundred has been the real game-changer. More girls are playing cricket, and local leagues have expanded drastically, something she never had growing up with just one women's team nearby.

"Everyone loves the Hundred - players, fans, everyone you speak to," she says. "It's fast, fun, entertaining, and as a player, it's such a great experience. You look around and see so many young girls and boys in the crowd, and they know all our names."

Bigger. Sharper. Louder. Thirush Kamini believes this World Cup "will be celebrated a lot more than other World Cups".

"If they would have known only two-three players earlier, now they know about 12-13 from the squad of 15," she says of the fans. "One great thing we had in Indian cricket is, as much as we want to support our players and our team, we have always supported the sport. So I feel this World Cup will be special for women's cricket. It could do for women's cricket what the 1983 men's World Cup did for Indian cricket."

Kapp agrees and says the quality of cricket and volume of competition has created a far more balanced playing field.

"We are playing a lot more international bilateral series," she says. "Back then, it would be [maybe] three series a year. But now it is back-to-back. The more you play, you learn more about the game and your skill."

For Australia quick Megan Schutt, too, this edition will be among the most evenly matched World Cups - not despite being played in India, but because of it.

"The fact it's in the subcontinent actually brings everyone closer together," she says. "If we were in Australia on flat tracks, some teams would obviously get exposed. I just expect really good cricket. There will be really high standards… I don't predict many blowout games.

"The hype of the WPL has really shifted momentum in the Indian space towards women's cricket. I expect big crowds, big noise… especially the game against India. That's going to be one hell of a game. I know we're not going to be able to hear Midge [Alyssa Healy] on the field so we're going to have to watch her intently."

It promises to be the kind of spectacle not many of these players had imagined experiencing when they started - packed crowds, deafening noise, global attention. What was once a far-off hope is now the norm.

If there's one thing these players agree on, it's that this growth hasn't happened by accident. It's the result of years of groundwork, exposure, and investment. And it's still not the end yet.