2017 World Cup was the turning point for women's cricket in India: Diana Edulji

A former India captain and among the game’s most formidable left-arm spinners, Diana Edulji’s CV, as the cliche goes, is the stuff of legends. Nearly three and a half decades after her retirement, she remains India’s most prolific bowler and the world’s third-highest wicket-taker in women’s Tests. In a testament to her endurance and her craft, the 69-year-old also holds the record for the most number of balls bowled in women’s Tests.But Edulji’s legacy extends far beyond the field. A champion of the women’s game, she served on the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) for the BCCI, the body that governs the sport in India, between 2017 and 2019. As part of the CoA, she spearheaded key reforms for both past and present cricketers—including pension and one-time benefits, and stay and travel allowances on a par with men. Now an advisor with the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), Edulji is revelling in what she calls the happiest day in her life—when Indian women finally won the ODI World Cup. In a conversation with Forbes India, she narrates how the tide started turning and what the BCCI should do to build on the momentum. Edited excerpts:Q. India’s ODI World Cup win is being touted as the 1983 moment for women's cricket. Do you agree?Actually, I don’t. I think the turning point in women's cricket came in 2017 when we played the finals at Lord’s Cricket Ground [in England]. That match was telecast live and it was a packed house at the stadium, known as the Mecca of cricket. With a women's match drawing a full house and the hype that was built up for the final… unfortunately we just missed out by nine runs. I think that was the turning point because everybody started taking notice of women's cricket after that.And I was glad because I was a COA member (the Committee of Administrators appointed by the Supreme Court for the BCCI). When the team entered the final, we announced a cash award of Rs 50 lakh for each player, though it was objected to in the committee. They said what if they win? I said we'll double it. Add to that the Prime Minister calling the team for a cup of tea at his residence, and the adulation they got, despite being the losing team. I think that is the moment when us and the BCCI realised that women's cricket is here to stay.Q. What’s the key takeaway from this victory?This definitely is a very big win. It is something we were waiting for, or at least I was waiting for, for the last 50 years. I played three World Cups and, unfortunately, we could never make it. We had two previous chances in 2005 and 2017 for the 50-over World Cup, and also at the 2020 T20 World Cup.A lot of changes for women’s cricket started with the merger between the BCCI and the Women’s Cricket Association of India in 2006. Many state associations started taking interest in women's cricket, giving them the facilities and trying to bring them on a par with the men. When Jay Shah was the BCCI secretary, he did make a lot of positive changes for women cricketers, like parity in match fees. Even as the ICC chairman now, he's made a big impact for women's cricket globally. The effort that the ICC is putting under his leadership, I think women's cricket will reach its pinnacle.With India winning this World Cup, there will be a heightened interest when it comes to viewership. The WPL is just around the corner, we’ve got the auctions end of this month. The WPL is a key stage to scout talent for the domestic girls. And the more matches we play in domestic cricket, the better bench strength we will have.Q. Before the BCCI started changing things around for women’s cricket, stories of administrative apathy were abundant…During our playing days, we had nothing. We never got any match fees. For the 1982 World Cup in Australia, we had to pay Rs 10,000 each out of our pockets. Some of the girls could not afford it and hence didn’t make it to the team. Because I had a person in my building who was the editor of the daily newspaper, four of us from Maharashtra approached him and requested him to take our photo, put it on the front page to say these girls can’t go to the World Cup because there’s no money. When it came out, we got a call from Mantralaya asking us to reach the airport to meet CM AR Antulay. When we told him we don't have the money to go to the World Cup, he told his secretary to issue us a cheque of Rs 40,000 and ensure that we boarded the flight to Australia. During our playing days, we've stayed in dormitories, even as the Indian team we've travelled unreserved in trains, we've slept near the toilets, on platforms, waiting rooms… sponsors were very hard to get.But we enjoyed ourselves, and we did get the crowds. In the first unofficial series against Australia in 1975, we had 30,000 people at Eden Gardens [in Kolkata]. In 1976, when we won our first Test in Patna against the West Indies, we had another 25,000-30,000 people. So, while there were people passing snide remarks about women playing cricket, it’s not that women's cricket was looked down upon.Also Read: Franchise cricket is the way forward for the women's game globally: Jhulan GoswamiQ. From then to now, what are the key factors that have turned the tide?I would like to take a little credit here. When I became a COA member in 2017, the BCCI had a policy of a one-time benefit for former cricketers, but only for the men. So I put it up to my COA and it was decided that we will extend this benefit to the women as well—although not of a similar value to men, but a good amount. Then we had the pension scheme with the BCCI, which initially stated that it should be available for those who have played at least 10 Tests. We didn’t have too many players in that category, while the bracket of one to nine had many. We passed that as well, bringing a lot of former players within the ambit of the pension.In 2018, during the IPL playoff, I wanted women cricketers from all over the world to come and play one game. We had a women’s T20 challenge match between the Supernovas and the Trailblazers in Mumbai. Next year, it was increased to three teams and later the tournament was taken to places like Jaipur where we had unbelievable crowds. The practice was followed during the tenure of Jay Shah and Sourav Ganguly… in Covid, they held the tournament in Sharjah. From these tournaments, the WPL was born. If India had a women’s league, everyone knew it will bring big money. And that's what the WPL has proved—the tournament has good sponsors, broadcasting rights were sold separately, teams were auctioned for good amounts. There has been no looking back since.You know, initially, we hardly used to play bilaterals. But before this World Cup, the BCCI had a plan. We went to England to play T20s plus ODIs. Just before the World Cup started here, we had Australia coming in here, so the team got to play and test combinations against the best team. I thought that was a very good move. The Indian women's cricket team celebrates their maiden win at ODI World Cup. Edulji calls the day the best of her life; Image: Punit Paranjpe / AFPQ. The preparations would have helped…They did. Unfortunately, we lost to three big teams in the league stage. I think that was a wake-up call for us. I did speak to Smriti before the New Zealand game and said it's high time you got a hundred. And she did it. That game made us qualify for the semis. When we beat England, I had congratulated Harmanpreet [Kaur] in a message, and she said, ‘Ma’am please pray that we win’. I told her what I want is that star on the jersey—like the men cricketers flaunt the three stars from three World Cup wins, my ambition was to see that star on your jersey. The World Cup win was the happiest day of my life. For 50 years, if I have given anything as a player, an administrator and now an advisor to the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), this is the best return gift I got.Q. Aside from pensions, you were also the one who pushed proposals for five-star stays and travel for the current players. Was the BCCI amenable to it? Because former president N Srinivasan had once told you that he wasn’t keen on women’s cricket.It did take a lot of pushing. In fact, it was in the last meeting before we handed over that it was passed, but still not put into play as the finance side had not yet passed the resolution. In the last meeting, where Saba Karim was there as the general manager, administration, we saw to it that it was minuted and passed, that these girls have to travel in business class, they have to stay in five-star hotels, and single rooms—no sharing of rooms. Then came the parity in match fees under Mr Shah. I'm glad the BCCI has become very broad-minded with women's cricket.Q. What steps should the BCCI take from here on to build on the current momentum?We want more Test matches because that is where the actual temperament and the talent will come out. Just playing T20 is not enough. Red-ball cricket has to come into the domestic multi-day matches, which I think the BCCI is about to announce. The number of domestic tournaments is increasing slowly but steadily. Earlier, we had only two tournaments in the whole year, but now the girls play round the year. We've got the WPL, then we've got the challengers. We've got an under-19 team, which is going for the World Cup, two have won back-to-back World Cups.I would prefer the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru to have special camps, talent scouting camps for the pacers as well as right arm leg spin. We need wrist spinners or finger spinners. Although our pacers like Renuka [Singh Thakur] have performed well coming back from an injury layoff, and so have Kranti [Goud] and Amanjot [Kaur], we have a big backroom after Jhulan [Goswami]. We also need some good all-rounders to maintain the balance of the team. And a bit more focus on fitness, ground fielding and running between the wickets. Fours and sixes are not going to help build the total, the ones and twos will.Q. Do you see Harmanpreet continuing till the next ODI World Cup?I hope so. If you remain fit, age should not be a problem. I played domestic till the age of 40. I hope Smriti remains available for cricket.Q. Despite the pay parity that was announced in 2022, the one gap that remains is in the annual retainership…I am not in favour of [bridging] that. I still feel there is a gap. The men have played long and what they have achieved, we have just started to achieve. I would say deserve, then desire.Q. The retainer fee of Rs 50 lakh for the Grade A category was stipulated way back in 2018 and has remained stagnant since. Do you think the time has come for a hike at least?Maybe a little bit, yes. Doubling it should not be a problem, as it happened with the pension. And a few more players could come into Grade C to encourage more players to come in. But I still feel you should not compare the two contracts. Not yet at least.This World Cup had a lot of eyeballs, so does the WPL. When the value of the broadcasting rights go up, that's when the money starts to flow in for everybody. The state associations are doing their bit too. Look at the MCA—we’ve never had club cricket in Mumbai, now we have over 50 clubs playing women's cricket and the number of tournaments has also increased.Q. The WPL started three years ago with five teams. With the talent pool widening and the interest going up after the World Cup, should it scale up now?Not for another year or two, because our domestic players need the benefit. I don't want foreign players to come and benefit from team expansions. We will be giving out more and the quality of the game will go down. So another year or two, you know, let's see how this WPL goes, whether we find more talent coming from the domestic side. And I would like for it to be mandatory for an under-19 player in the playing 11.

leadership

Podcasts

Videos

Thought Leadership

Lists

2017 World Cup was the turning point for women's cricket in India: Diana Edulji

The former India captain and ex-BCCI administrator on the many battles before women’s cricket was recognised and incentivised, and why the ODI World Cup victory may not be its 1983 moment

Latest News