On the fateful night of Sunday, 2nd November, 2025, the Indian women’s cricket team lifted their first ever World Cup trophy, and it was under a shower of golden confetti that they did so. It was a defining moment for women’s cricket in India and a giant leap ahead for Indian cricket. The moment was cheered by 40,000 spectators who attended the match at Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil stadium, besides millions of others who were hooked on to their TV sets and Jio Hotstar app. Those who missed the glorious moment were all smiles when they saw the news on TV or when their peers told them. Never before was women’s cricket celebrated to this extent in India.
You’ll be surprised to note that from India alone, 185 million viewers had streamed the 2025 Women’s World Cup final, while on TV, 92 million viewers watched it. These numbers are remarkably similar to the viewership of the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup final. The future of Indian cricket is indeed in safe hands, if even a minute fraction of the viewership chooses to take up the game.
Facts that will add to the buzz surrounding the recent World Cup victory
Vishal Yadav, operations head at Female Cricket Academy, now gets 200 calls a day from people interested in enrolling their daughters, who are also budding cricketers at the academy. Mr. Yadav says that he even gets calls from husbands who want their wives to learn some cricket. He has to explain to them that this one’s an age-focused cricket academy.
Mr. Yadav’s academy had started in 2017 and was based on the interest that the World Cup then had garnered. But the magnitude of the interest shown now is unprecedented, he says.
Another closely related matter was street celebrations in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, which came alive just following the Indian women’s World Cup victory.
A giant leap ahead for the Indian women’s cricket team
For decades at a stretch, it was merely in shadows that Indian women’s cricket had existed. With the lifting of the Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025, the nation’s sporting consciousness has undergone a transformation. It was a proud moment for Indian cricket indeed as captain Harmanpreet Kaur and her team paraded in the midst of ecstatic fans with the World Cup trophy at DY Patil Stadium. Bollywood stars, former players, and business leaders were all in attendance at the moment.
The Indian women’s cricket team has not always had it easy.
When boys show adoration for cricket in India, it is considered normal. But for girls, it is a different story. The latter are told that focusing on their studies will be a better choice. Sometimes, their sporting ambitions are mocked.
You’ll be surprised to note that in her younger days, Harmanpreet Kaur would play cricket with boys using a hockey stick instead of a cricket bat. Shefali Verma would wear short hair so that when she played cricket in Rohtak, she would be mistaken for a boy. All this used to take place because opportunities for women to rise as sporting stars were few and far.
But, come 2025, and the achievements of the Indian women’s cricket team are being measured by the yardstick set for the men’s cricket team. When the World Cup was on, there used to be a time when the Indian women’s cricket team had suffered straight losses against South Africa, Australia, and England. The buzzword on social media, then, was that women belong in the kitchen. People were not amused by the idea of pay parity for male and female cricketers. People, at that time, did not lay their focus on game plans. They were considering why our female cricketers are losing despite being given good facilities.
Nothing succeeds like success, and attitudes changed when India won. The semi-final victory against Australia was celebrated as much as the final victory against South Africa. Indian women’s cricket, which earlier existed at the fringes, was for the first time celebrated at scale with CWC 25’s victory. This goes to show the transformation in the deeper mind set of the nation’s sporting culture. Cricket is no longer a male territory, and women are slowly but surely building their place.
There is no way we can sufficiently celebrate this victory of India’s daughters enough. But the spirit of the nation resides with them. This is the moment to celebrate the efforts of all entities involved with Indian women’s cricket and all present, past, and budding women cricketers. Great job, keep it up!
