Dear BCCI President, if there aren’t enough cricketers in the country for a women’s IPL, whose fault is that?

When Sourav Ganguly, who has promised and then backtracked and then promised a women’s IPL again, told Sportstar that the talent pool is lacking for a full-fledged women’s T20 tournament, it didn’t even come as a surprise anymore. Supporters of women’s cricket in India have overridden phases of anger, ranting, frustration and bewilderment, to sink into an unfortunate zone of acceptance, acknowledging that there is only so much that they can do and that unless the officials at the helm step out of their chauvinism, the growth of cricket in the country will remain stagnant.

This incident remains unhighlighted. At a Bengali talk show a few years ago, Ganguly, a former India skipper known for taking bold decisions that changed how opponents viewed the team, was asked how he would encourage his daughter if she aired her views on becoming a cricketer. Ganguly immediately answered: “I would ask her not to because she is a woman.” The quick-witted response led to laughter from all quarters, but the basis of the ‘humour’ in the veiled attack was not lost on many.

Ganguly’s reign began at a time when women’s cricket was expected to reach new peaks

The 2017 Women’s World Cup, where India narrowly lost in the final, was expected to be a watershed moment for the sport, not only in the country but globally. The BCCI’s resources were enough to bring about a change in how spectators viewed women’s cricket, much like how the perception around T20 cricket turned following India’s win in the 2007 men’s T20 World Cup. However, unlike the men’s side, women’s cricket in India has hardly made any progress in the five years since due to the lazy efforts of the officials.

The team lost a year after they were shunned during the pandemic. They missed out on viewership after they were scheduled to play matches in the South Africa home series at the exact same time as the men’s team, who were playing England at the same time. It took an article by a foreign publication to fast-track their payment following their T20 World Cup final appearance in 2020. The Women’s T20 Challenge, which at least provided a small opportunity to the women’s athletes a chance to rub shoulders with the best was cancelled last year. The players have been asked, almost like puppets, to sing the high praises of the board.

This year, the women’s senior T20 tournament has been indefinitely postponed even as the Ranji Trophy is back on track. The India players have almost been pleading for a WIPL, with Jemimah Rodrigues, rather solemnly, asking the board to host an un-televised event, if they thought the profits from broadcasting would not be deemed high enough.

Even if the above incidents can be overlooked, with the BCCI being excused of inept governance, Ganguly’s recent comments reek of ignorance as it demeans the efforts of the players he is supposedly in charge of.

For one last time, if you looked, you’d find enough players

It was last year after Australia were mauled at the Gabba when Justin Langer proclaimed, “Never, ever, ever underestimate the Indians. There are 1.5 billion Indians.”

Of them, a minimum of 740 cricketers from 37 teams take part in the Women’s Senior ODI and T20 Tournaments every year. From there, the 60 top domestic players, not including internationals, were selected to play in the Senior Women’s Challenger Trophy that was played in December 2021. There are another 15 players who have been picked in the World Cup squad. In the last three years, 28 players have turned out for India in T20Is alone, and pardon us for not believing that the country of a billion will not be able to throw up at least a hundred well-rounded stars. Apologies for not accepting that there are no more wonder kids similar to Richa Ghosh and Shafali Verma, who have won over a global audience with their talent aged just 16, and do not come after us for stating that there has been a serious lack in the effort, because. Mr Ganguly, it was always your duty to look into this sector and look into why women’s cricket has never been able to take off.

You were not expected to be a miracle worker. We accept that it is easier to promote the men’s sport, and that, at the very root, is a societal and cultural battle. The women, even today, are expected to follow a patriarchal way of living and playing sports. In a country where girls in villages are taught how to cook and run a kitchen as soon as they can stand on their feet, and where even wanting to get an education is chided, we knew that you could not turn up the viewership rate overnight, or force the same men who disallow the girls to venture into the unknown, to suddenly watch women play cricket.

But, Mr Ganguly, you failed to make the most of the opportunities when they did come your way. During your tenure, the India team reached the semis and the finals of the T20 World Cup in the last two editions, with the final in 2020 even getting record TRP ratings. Yes, the pandemic stole away all the hype, but constantly overlooking the side’s progress, and going on to state that the players don’t have what it takes, when the few who tuned in to the Challenger Trophy will tell you otherwise, is unfair.

Unfair not only to the current players who have willingly fought the stigma, and continue to follow their dreams despite being shunned again and again but also to the former cricketers, who had hoped that their fights would end in a more inclusive platform. However, the nonchalance is frankly tiresome. If, after all this while, the excuse remains, ‘not enough players’, then either, you failed miserably at what you were entrusted with doing, or, two, you just didn’t care.

Sourav Ganguly, the cricketer, was an enigma, a leader who taught India how to stand up against the toughest opponents, but unfortunately, when it came to him doing just that as a BCCI administrator, fighting for women’s cricketers against an indifferent society, he failed.