Thiruvananthapuram: With the news coming that the 50-over Women’s World Cup will be played in India from September 29 to October 26, the biggest cheer came when Thiruvananthapuram was listed as one of the five venues which will stage the event.
Thiruvananthapuram Greenfield Stadium will host women’s international cricket for the first time. Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Stadium in Mullanpur in Punjab to host the Women’s World Cup final with Vishakhapatnam, Raipur and Indore as the other venues.
Women’s cricket in Kerala, which began on a very small scale in the late seventies, when it was really difficult to make up 15 players, is not the same today, as the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) is at the forefront of promoting women’s cricket. At present, there are under-15, under-19, under-23 and senior teams.
Niketha Ramankutty, a former state cricketer and current chairperson of the Kerala Women’s Cricket selection team and a member of the South Zone selection panel, told IANS the news has brought a huge cheer from all those who follow women’s cricket in Kerala.
“Women from Kerala have started to break the glass ceiling in all sectors, and in cricket too, it’s the same. When we played, the first opposition that came was from one’s home. Today that has changed, and what I can feel is the present generation of girls gets huge support from their families, and that’s a huge positive,” said Ramankutty.
By now five women from Kerala have made it to the Indian team, and it includes Minnu Mani, Asha, Sajna, Joshita and Najla. Of the five, Njala and Joshita represented the India U-19 national team, while the other three all represented the Indian senior team.
Incidentally, Arundhati Reddy, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, but has been playing for the senior Kerala women’s team for the past two years, has also represented India.
Speaking to IANS, Vinod S.Kumar, secretary of the KCA, said the news that has been selected as one of the host cities for the upcoming 2025 ICC Women’s ODI World Cup has come as a huge morale booster for women’s cricket and all those girls who dream of playing for the state and country.
“With five from the Kerala women’s team playing India, already there is a big buzz among the girls, and that can be seen in the increasing number of girls looking for coaching options to fine-tune their game. Now that for the first time, a women’s international match is being staged here, interests will further go up,” said Kumar.
Kumar added that “we at KCA will be following the guidelines from the BCCI on the way forward to play the host.”
Indian cricketer Sajna Sajeevan was pleasantly surprised, as she did not know that the ground where she practises will now stage a women’s international match for the first time.
“I feel excited, as the staging of an ICC event (women’s) for the first time will spur more and more young girls to take to the cricketing pitch. Over the years the interest is growing and more girls want to play cricket, and this will make things easier,” said Sajna to IANS.
India are hosting the Women’s World Cup for the first time since 2013, when they exited on the group stage. They also hosted the women’s T20 World Cup in 2016. The format for the 2025 edition will be the same as in 2022, with eight teams playing a total of 31 matches.
(IANS)
