Another beginning, as women’s cricket moves forward in style 

The strength of a nation’s junior team is often an indication of the robustness of the senior team a

The strength of a nation’s junior team is often an indication of the robustness of the senior team as well, and a sign that the future is bright. India’s Under-19 teams — both men and women — are currently World Cup winners; there is something gratifying about following champions from promise to fulfilment.

Sport can be a compressed version of life — hopes, disappointments, joys, sorrows, frustrations, injustices, dreams, fulfilment can be experienced over a very short period. And when talent and performance are duly rewarded, there is an inevitability that is heart-warming. In the Women’s Under-19 team, which won the World Cup in South Africa after bowling England out for 68 runs in the final, there were many signposts to the future.

Opener Shweta Sehrawat and medium pacer Titas Sadhu were consistent. The fielding in the final touched great heights with Archana Devi’s catch in the covers and Soumya Tiwari’s direct hit to run out Josie Groves simply brilliant.

Women’s cricket has been on the upswing in India for a while now, due as much to the range of talented players available as to the progressive policies of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. Women now earn the same amount as men for international matches.

That Indian girls who first take to the game can now dream of careers in sport, their future assured, is a huge step. But the BCCI will have to make another step or two before satisfaction is complete. Domestic cricket – the nursery for internationals – must be made attractive.

Talent exists. But better pay for domestic tournaments (men’s domestic cricket pays four or five times as much as women’s) will not only attract more to the sport, it will also help in overcoming societal stigma that continues to be attached to sportswomen in India. All societies respect money.

The central contracts, introduced in 2015 sees ₹50 lakh for the top women cricketers (as compared to ₹7 crore for the men). At the very least, the women deserve a substantial rise in their annual salaries.