India, explained.
The champion Indian team with the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup trophy after defeating South Africa at Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy on 2 Novembe 2025 in Navi Mumbai, India (Alex Davidson-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)
India’s World Cup victory shows that investing in women’s sport delivers results beyond the boundary, with lessons across the region.
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When women win: India’s cricket revolutionWhen women win: India’s cricket revolution
The night belonged to them. For the first time, neither Australia nor England featured in a Women’s World Cup final. The streak of dominance that had defined the global hierarchy of women’s cricket for ages was broken by a team that had waited too long to be heard.
Shafali Verma’s explosive innings on 2 November set the tone that was audacious and unafraid. The same teenager who once trained with boys in Rohtak because there was no girls’ academy in her town has now become the face of fearless Indian cricket. South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt said Verma’s part-time off-spin was a “surprise factor” that turned the 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup final at Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium in India’s favour.
Then came Deepti Sharma’s precise bowling, dismantling the opposition with tactical intelligence. Shree Charani’s spell in the middle overs was nothing short of magical, when she choked the flow of runs when it mattered most. Amanjot Kaur’s game-changing catch, plucked inches above the ground, turned the match decisively. For a country that has adored its cricketing heroes in exclusively masculine form, this win felt seismic. The stadium’s roar carried the sound of a nation learning to cheer its women with the same fervour reserved for men.
Shafali Verma batting during the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup final (Nikhil Patil/Getty Images)
This triumph is political too, due to its challenge to centuries of social conditioning. In a society that still reeks of everyday misogyny, where girls are told to “play safe” while boys are encouraged to “play hard”, the Indian women’s cricket team has redefined what ambition looks like. Women’s cricket in India has always been a story of persistence against invisibility. Amid struggles, when the women’s team reached the World Cup final in 2005 and again in 2017, they played before half-empty stands and under modest coverage. It took decades for the establishment to catch up with the team’s dedication.
That tide began to turn under the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), particularly during Sourav Ganguly’s tenure as president and Jay Shah’s role as secretary, when they laid the groundwork for the Women’s Premier League (WPL). For years, Australia had set the global standard through its Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) – a pioneering model that professionalised women’s cricket and normalised parity in sporting culture. India’s institutional response through the WPL was both an acknowledgement and an assertion, recognising Australia’s lead and crafting an Indian pathway to equality and excellence.
The story is most tragic in Afghanistan, where women cricketers trained with the hope of wearing the national colours – brutally curtailed since the Taliban’s return.
Moreover, the landmark decision in October 2022 to introduce equal match fees for men and women was certainly a structural reform. Thanks to Shah, Roger Binny and Rajeev Shukla for taking such a brilliant step. Against this backdrop, India’s victory sets a regional precedent. It demonstrates what institutional support, visibility, and financial parity can achieve. For South Asia’s federations, it offers a living model that investment in women’s sport is not an act of tokenism.
This win holds significance beyond India’s borders. Sri Lanka’s women’s team, led by Chamari Athapaththu, has fought for recognition despite meagre resources, while Pakistan’s women, led by pioneers such as Sana Mir and Bismah Maroof, have played under immense social pressure, often vilified for stepping onto the field at all. The story is most tragic in Afghanistan, where women cricketers trained with the hope of wearing the national colours. That hope has been brutally curtailed since the Taliban’s return. Their absence from international cricket is the result of political repression that denies women the basic freedom to be athletes.
Although Bangladesh has had a lot of success in recent years, it’s not yet at the level where many would say the investment is fully sufficient. Nepal and the Maldives are building their women’s programs from the grassroots, yet they struggle with infrastructure and visibility.
South Asian women are rising, and the world is watching. India’s win shows a larger regional current where women are demanding visibility and investment in a domain long reserved for men. Across Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, and the Maldives, we see the same story of immense talent constrained by fragile systems. The lesson from India’s success is that when women are given the infrastructure, institutional support, and fair pay they deserve, they deliver beyond expectations.
The journey in India, of course, did not begin with equal pay or televised leagues. It began in the 1970s with women such as Diana Edulji and Shantha Rangaswamy, who played when there was no BCCI support, no sponsorships, and little recognition. They stitched their own uniforms, travelled in unreserved coaches, and slept on the floor. The 2006 merger of the Women’s Cricket Association of India (WCAI) with the BCCI was a milestone, but equality remained a promise for many years. The new generation of Shafali Verma from Rohtak, Richa Ghosh from Siliguri, Jemimah Rodrigues from Mumbai, Deepti Sharma from Agra, and Harmanpreet Kaur from Moga represent a social transformation who are the product of aspiration and of families who dared to believe their daughters belonged on the field.
In South Asia, sports have always reflected the politics of class, gender, and nationhood. The women’s cricket team’s success is part of this larger narrative of representation. For decades, international cricket in South Asia has been defined by male rivalries of India-Pakistan, Sri Lanka-Bangladesh. This victory could well serve as a metaphor for regional cooperation, should the BCCI continue encouraging women’s cricket across South Asia, including its ongoing engagement with Afghanistan. Even though South Asian dynamics are fraught with territorial disputes, this victory can be a vehicle for cooperation.
In the end, as Harmanpreet lifted the trophy, it glinted under the floodlights and was a reflection of something larger. A new era for Indian sport, a new hope for South Asia, and a truth clear as the sound of the crowd that night. When women win, nations rise.
About the author
Sanchari Ghosh
Sanchari Ghosh is a PhD candidate at the Department of International Relations, Jadavpur University, Kolkata.
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