WPL: How Women's Premier League can transform women's cricket in India

India's cricketing fraternity is set to embrace the newly born Women's Premier League as it commences its journey.

With the first ball of the historical event a few hours away, the WPL is deemed to make some transformative changes in the landscape of women's cricket in India, from domestic to international level.

WPL has been in BCCI's plan for a long time now, as the apex body of Indian cricket started the Women T20 challenge, which was more of an exhibition tournament between three teams and lasted like three to five days. But WPL will be the full-fledged version of franchise women's cricket after the WBBL and the Hundred.

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Indian cricket changed after the introduction of IPL. The massive popularity of the IPL helped the Indian cricket to grow and have unearthed many talents across the last fifteen years or so. And the focus of the WPL will be primarily that. Here is how WPL can bring a new direction to women's cricket in India-

WPL will bring more opportunities to women Cricketers:

In India, the list of women players leaving their dream of social pressure is numerous. Former India player Ravi Kalpana is an example of that. Her cricketing dream was curtailed just at the age of 25 due to social pressure and a lack of monetary resources. There are countless women in Indian cricket who have left their passion and have succumbed to the responsibilities.

Sing along with Shankar Mahadevan, Harshdeep Kaur, Neeti Mohan, Aishaanya Joshi, Akriti Kakar, and Agsy!

The #TATAWPL Anthem is now LIVE, and don't forget, #YehTohBasShuruatHai!@JayShah | #TataWPLAnthem | #TataWPL2023 pic.twitter.com/GNawct6PRY

— Women's Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) March 4, 2023

WPL will hopefully encourage the new generation to hold on to their dream. Cricket in this country is like a religion as the devotion of people to the game kind of reflects the deep connection. And the arrival of WPL is massive in women's cricket. Already there are many youngsters in the first edition of the WPL - Shabnam Shakil (Gujarat Giants), Shreyank Patil (RCB), Minnu Mani (DC) are the names.

And all of the aforementioned players have come after a long hardship. Hence the message is clear, don't just give up your hope. This message will be important and pivotal for the upcoming generation and thus play a massive part in the upheaval of the game in India.

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A better Infrastructure, bigger Reward:

The franchises will have the onus now to improve the game at the grassroot level. The women's cricket needed a push and as that has been achieved now, things must go according to the plan. The improvement of grassroot level cricket is important as we have seen the rise of talented cricketers across the small towns and villages of the country.

Minnu Mani is one example of that as the Kerala girl from Wayanad has followed her dream despite a massive financial struggle. She had to change four buses to reach the stadium but she never gave up on her dreams. The connectivity of the game has already reached remote areas, further improvement can only reap bigger rewards.

Breaking barriers with her grit and determination to create #WPL history 🙌#KnowYourCapitals with Minnu Mani, the talented all-rounder from Wayanad! #YehHaiNayiDilli #CapitalsUniverse pic.twitter.com/9174CsUsku

— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) February 25, 2023

WPL's success stories will inspire upcoming talented girls to play the game, but a better infrastructure can ensure the talents follow the proper regime and a faster result can come from that. BCCI has already taken strides to implement the game, and WPL will further enhance its reach.

Women's cricket to become mainstream:

This is going to be another great thing courtesy of WPL. In India, almost everyone knows who Virat Kohli or Sachin Tendulkar or MS Dhoni is, but you will see people scratching their heads if you ask them about Jhulan Goswami or Mithali Raj or Harmanpreet Kaur.

Things have changed in the last few years as the Indian women's team now get regularly televised, but WPL can make them household stars. With a global broadcast and multiple platform telecast schedule, WPL won't just get televised, but become a part of people's mindspace, as IPL has become over the years. The promo of the WPL also follows the same theme, as it says "Har zubaan par naam tera (Your name will be uttered by every tongue)."

The idea behind mainstreaming the women's team in India is a perfect one and hopefully the WPL will achieve that. So far women's cricket is adored by Indian people, you won't see any anger or repercussion from the fans despite India's serial losses at the knockout stages of the ICC Women's tournaments. Hopefully, the inclusivity and involvement after WPL will be palpable in both instances - so that people rejoice with a win and get angry, show their frustration after the Indian women's team loses. Only then the mainstreaming idea can be achieved.

It is just the start. The WPL is at its nascent stage and it will take time. And the potential is there. You may see in five years, a 7-year-old is shadow practising Shafali Verma's stance, people in their gatherings getting into arguments regarding poor bowling by Titas Sadhu in the previous day's match. "Who is better - Smriti Mandhana or Jemimah Rodrigues?", memes flooding in the internet between two fan bases. That is the aim of WPL, it is a long process, but that will be the success story, the dream to make women's cricket mainstream in India.