Why the upcoming Women’s T20 World Cup is important?

The seventh edition of Women’s T20 World Cup commences from 21 February in Australia, with four-time champions Australia taking on India in the tournament opener. It is a mouth-watering clash. The craze around women’s cricket has been on a rise ever since the Eves in Blue reached the finals of the 50-over World Cup in 2017. The Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia promises to be yet another watershed moment for the game.

Read: Indian vs Australia, Women’s T20 WC 2020 Preview

Harmanpreet Kaur and Meg Lanning. The opening fixture of Women's T20 World Cup between India and Australia promises to be a thriller. (Image: T20WorldCup)

Over the years, naysayers have pointed out the lack of competition in women’s cricket. Scores are considerably lower when compared to the men’s game. Matches are devoid of big sixes which is attributed to the relatively less muscle power that women possess. It keeps people away from the stadiums.

T20 has always been batter’s game. International Cricket Council (ICC) has put in efforts to get the bowlers back into the game but it is the batters who most of the time have the last laugh, with the high-flying shots attracting large crowds.

The women’s game is devoid of such mayhem. The score of 200 has been breached just ten times in T20Is. It is not hard to see why this face of cricket has long been ignored. But things are changing. The introduction of power-hitting has seen a shift in the attitude towards how the players approach an innings. Knocks are well planned, with batters exploding towards the end, and the fact that a score of more than 160 has been scored 46 times in the last two years alone, show how women’s cricket is growing. The tournament in Australia, thus, will give players another opportunity to test their skills, but this time on larger grounds. The strength of the athletes will be brought to the fore, and if teams can rack up scores of around 170 consistently, the overall excitement around the edition will increase.

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The upcoming tournament will also see third umpires call front-foot no-balls for the first time in an ICC event, a major landmark considering the fact that most of these experiences are usually reserved for the men’s events. The Decision Review System (DRS) was first introduced in the 2011 Men’s World Cup, and this move only highlights how the ICC thinks that the women’s game can shoulder and hold the responsibility of carrying the overall game of cricket forward.

From India, alone, a number of all-women groups have travelled Down Under, opting to attend the Women’s T20 World Cup instead of the Men’s version that happens in October later this year.

The Women’s Indian Premier League (WIPL) is being contemplated over the last two years, with odd games being held between the IPL. The lack of sustained excitement for the Women’s IPL had always troubled the broadcasters and the organizers, but if a large population from India can attend the event in Australia and cheer their team to victory, it might not be long before we see international women players turn out to play franchise cricket in India as well.

Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana during a Women's IPL game at Wankhede stadium. ( Image ICC )

The Indian women’s team will also be eyeing their maiden ICC event with a title is Australia. If they can hold their nerves and sort out their middle order woes, there will be no stopping the Hramanpreet Kaur-led side, which will indeed be a historical moment.