At the stroke of midnight, when skipper Harmanpreet Kaur stretched out her hand to catch Nadine de Klerk off Dipti Sharma at cover, Indian women’s cricket team fortunes changed forever. Her act was followed by thousands of overextended arms at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai cheering her and the team, and crores across India and the world who raised theirs, some in prayer and some in cheer.

For me, who has followed the fortunes of women’s cricket in India, right from its inception in the early 70s, it was a surreal experience. Having been guided, along with a few of the first batch of women players (including the maestro Diana Eduljee), by the legendary Vinoo Mankad in Mumbai, one did watch the pioneers of the movement of ladies cricket plead with the authorities for facilities and recognition.

From 1973, when the Women’s Cricket Association of India (WCAI) was formed, till 2022 the ladies had to endure a big struggle to be accepted by the authorities. From using crowd funding for International tours to imploring for remuneration to represent the country, they had to endure, what can be called, a second citizen status, performing silently with nothing to gain but pride. Nutan........

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