Market women’s cricket as separate sport and not extension of men’s game

India women cricket team won their maiden ICC Women's World Cup title after beating South Africa in the final (AP Photo)

As the dust settles on the Women's World Cup win and there is a growing clamour for pay parity and equal treatment, I think this is also a serious opportunity for the administrators. That’s where things can start and gain momentum. BCCI, may I say, is doing things at the central level. The start of the Women's Premier League (WPL) for example has helped changed things a lot. However, things now need to happen at the state association level. That’s where the grassroot development takes place and that’s where equal treatment needs to start.

Let me give a very specific example. Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) started with the Bengal Pro T-20 league a couple of years back and to my delight the men’s and women’s games were started simultaneously. Having said that the women’s games were played in the afternoon and the men’s games in the evening. The women’s games were played in the Jadavpur Stadium whereas the men’s games were played at Eden Gardens.

This was kind of assumed. In fact, it was the norm and everyone had come to accept it. The question is why? Why should the women’s games be played in the afternoon? Why not on some days at least in the evenings? Why not at Eden Gardens?

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In the wake of the World Cup win, women’s cricket offers an opportunity. For state associations to step up and create legacy. If the grassroot is strong, there will be a serious talent pool in the years ahead and much work can still be done in this regard.

Equality isn’t just about pay. It is also about facilities and infrastructure. Whenever there is a camp, it is assumed that the men will have access to the main stadium and the gym while something else will be figured out for the women. The BCCI now has the COE (Centre of Excellence) in Bengaluru for both men and women and it is essential that the state associations do more to translate the coveted equal treatment from theory to practice.

The other question is how should the women’s game be marketed going forward? Should it be marketed as an extension of the men’s game or should it now be treated as a separate sport with a very separate identity? Should the broadcast rights for example be packaged together or should the women’s game have a separate tender?

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For the longest time the women’s rights have been an add on. No separate value has been determined and the assumption has been that the rights by themselves don’t really attract much investment. The question now is will the World Cup change this dynamic or will things continue to stay the same? Unless the game by itself generates revenue, equality will always be a top down imposition rather than a bottom up achievement.

The idea should be to make the game robust and market it as a separate entity. Even if it fetches much less in comparison to the men’s game, it should be treated as a stand alone sport.

In fact, the comparison should never be men’s cricket. Rather, it should be all the other Olympic sports and women’s cricket should aspire to be India’s second sport after the men’s version. That way it has its own life, its own brand and its own identity.