World Cup to World Cup, 2013 to 2025: The story of a revolution

When India last hosted the Women's World Cup, in 2013, marketing the sport meant herding a few hundred schoolkids in their uniforms into pockets of the stadium, to lend a bit of atmosphere to the TV coverage.

Venues could be changed days before the tournament, just so the city's biggest stadium could host a Ranji Trophy final involving Sachin Tendulkar.

Match practice for India's senior women's team comprised games against Under-16s and Under-19s boys teams at the Police Gymkhana, after which the players would walk back to their budget rooms in South Mumbai while overseas teams checked into a five-star hotel. It was only after Diana Edulji, a former India captain, highlighted their plight in the national media that the team was eventually shifted into the hotel that housed the other teams.

India could draw satisfaction from beating at-par opponents like West Indies, but even running bigger teams close felt like victory back then. Like when a wiry 23-year-old batter who dreamed of emulating Virender Sehwag batted out of her skin to briefly give England the jitters.

Thirteen years on, the same hard-hitting batter is India's captain, possibly playing in her last 50-over World Cup at 37. But this time, Harmanpreet Kaur has around her a generation of players who don't just want to compete, but conquer. And for the first time in half a century, India's women walk into a World Cup with every reason to believe they could be crowned champions.

The contrast is stark. In 2013, such suggestions would have generated ridicule. Even though women's cricket was under the BCCI's purview, it was nowhere near as professional as it is today. Match fees barely touched INR 1 lakh for an entire tour, and daily allowances ran to INR 1500, barely enough to cover a coffee and a snack in countries like England or Australia. For players, defeat often meant checking out the next morning and finding their own way home: sometimes by taxi, sometimes by train.

Players craved attention and got none. "Back then, recognition came only during a World Cup," says former India opener Thirush Kamini, who scored a century in India's tournament opener against West Indies in 2013. "Once you returned home, unless someone was very passionate about the game, nobody really noticed you. Today, players are recognised everywhere."

Opportunities were scarce. "Probably, I would say, the platform with which the girls are being selected now to play at the highest level [is far superior]," says former India allrounder Niranjana Nagarajan, who was part of the 2013 squad.

"They have a platform like WPL. And they have more tournaments to play and show their talent. That we did not have. We just had inter-zonal and challengers. And if we qualified for nationals, we'd get an extra three games. That was it. We lost out on a number of matches."

Even when players did well, their efforts would end up as one- or two-column stories at the peripheries of the sports pages. Instagram was still too new, too basic, and too niche to turn their magic moments viral.

"For the men's team, if Sanju Samson isn't picked, you ask why. If Shreyas Iyer performs in the IPL and isn't selected, questions are raised," Thirush says. This wasn't the case with women's cricket in her time, but it's changed now.

"Now when Shafali [Verma] is not getting picked, the selectors are asked why she's not getting picked. The players who had played during the previous era didn't even understand why they were not getting picked.

"I understand it's going to be a lot of pressure on a player like Shafali. But when you look at the flip side, I feel she at least has a clarity that she's still in the scheme of things and she's just not part of this World Cup. When you're talking about players getting paid equally, it's not just about infrastructure or facilities. It's also about expectations, and that kind of scrutiny should stay."

Mithali Raj, who was 14 years into her international career at the 2013 World Cup, was one of two recognisable names in the sport, Jhulan Goswami being the other. Even so, the fact that Mithali had already led India to a World Cup final in 2005 barely shifted the needle of public attention.

"When I got my hundred, Mithali was at the other end," Thirush recalls. "A journalist asked how it felt to beat her record. She just turned to me with a smile and said, 'Go ahead, it's your moment.' That generosity is what made them such great leaders."

Today, the landscape is completely different. Players train at state-of-the-art facilities, compete in thriving T20 leagues in India and abroad, and play the best oppositions as a matter of routine. In the lead-up to this World Cup, India toured England and hosted world champions Australia. A far cry from the time they'd settle for practice matches against men's age-group teams.

Jemimah Rodrigues was once Tendulkar's neighbour in Mumbai. One of the things that inspired her to play cricket was seeing him arrive home to exuberant celebrations. Harmanpreet was captivated by Sehwag's fearlessness and his habit of starting his innings with boundaries. Today, aspiring cricketers look at Smriti Mandhana's cover drive, Harmanpreet's sweep, and Radha Yadav's athleticism for inspiration.

In 2025, India's women players are in the midst of a revolution - equal pay, record prize money, and a fan following that travels to see them play and train.

Bucket Hat Cult, a dedicated fan group for women's cricket, are set for their biggest outing yet. The 25-member group, which officially came together in 2023, travel to "as many India games as possible", and will be out in force in Navi Mumbai for their first ODI Women's World Cup. "We want to create as much buzz as we can," they say.

India's run to the final of the 2017 World Cup was hailed as a turning point for women's cricket in the country, but the BCCI may have been a tad late in harnessing that wave. Once they did, however, with the 2023 launch of the WPL, interest in the sport has surged. WPL 2025 recorded a 142% spike in TV viewership, drawing 31 million viewers. Even Royal Challengers Bengaluru's trophy celebration in 2024 drew a full house at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, where the men's team gave them a guard of honour.

It feels like a dream sometimes, but it's very much real. And after years of anonymity, this is the players' time to shine.

Three of the four venues for this World Cup haven't hosted a women's international in the last five years. Outside of Mumbai, most of India's recent matches have been in Bengaluru, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Delhi. Among them, Bengaluru's Chinnaswamy and Navi Mumbai's DY Patil Stadium have drawn strong crowds, helped by the WPL's presence.

DY Patil is expected to draw big numbers again, but the spotlight now shifts to less familiar venues: Guwahati, Indore and Visakhapatnam. India last played in Guwahati in 2019, in Vizag back in 2014, and have never played in Indore. Local connection could help, with each of these cities represented in the squad. And playing the World Cup in these cities may be a "blessing in disguise", Niranjana feels.

"Women's cricket is always taking place in Bengaluru and Mumbai, of course the reach and ticket sales will probably be more there," she says. "But when will we expose women's cricket to other places?

"Girls there will probably pick up a bat after watching the tournament. The reach will get better. I am definitely happy because these places are maybe not as big for women's cricket but considering this is an ICC tournament, it is definitely a good thing. Those people can also experience women's cricket as one of its kind."

Uma Chetry, who hails from Guwahati, is the first woman from the state of Assam to represent India. She carries the hopes of a region that seemed unlikely to produce international players a decade ago. In the last year alone, it has produced two - Riyan Parag, an IPL captain no less, is the other.

In Kadapa, a few hours away from Visakhapatnam, N Shree Charani's skills first took shape in gully cricket, where she'd bowl left-arm fast. In 2018-19, Charani's maternal uncle, who had grown up playing cricket in Hyderabad, persuaded her parents to send her for cricket trials.

She caught the eyes of the age-group coaches who were amazed at her athleticism - Charani was a promising track-and-field athlete in school. Today, on the back of an impressive initiation in the WPL, where she plays alongside Meg Lanning, Charani, who now bowls left-arm spin, has a platform to share a stage with the world's best.

Kranti Goud's journey from Ghuwara, a small town 450km from Indore, to the national team, punctuated by a six-wicket-haul in England, reflects how scouting, WPL performances, and exposure are reshaping India's talent pool.

From struggling for recognition in 2013 to commanding attention and respect in 2025, women's cricket in India has come a long way. This World Cup could finally give the players a stage that is theirs to own.