Sport belongs to all, it’s a powerful tool that can empower and change the lives of individuals. In India, cricket is not just a sport but also a religion which has conventionally been dominated by men. Female Cricket aims to change that dynamic by inspiring and empowering female cricketers around the world, having connected 500,000+ female enthusiasts and training over 250+ girls in the last three years.
In an exclusive interview with SPOGO, Vishal Yadav, Founder and CEO of Female Cricket speaks about the inspiration, aim and mission behind Female Cricket, equal pay for men and women, challenges faced, IPL for women and notable achievements.
What inspired you to create Female Cricket? What is its aim and mission?
I am a huge cricket fan and I always aspired to be a cricketer myself but I didn’t get enough opportunities to play professional cricket. By the time I came to know about the pathway to a professional setup, it was too late. Since I was so passionate about the game, I started reading and researching more about it and finding ways to be connected with this sport. I happened to speak to a lot of cricketers outside of India and got to know about their stories and their love for the sport. It was during one of these conversations that I realized the huge gap between men’s and women’s cricket. It was also surprising to know that women’s cricket had existed since the last 3-4 decades, but there was hardly any coverage on both online and offline media. I knew I had to do something about it. That led to the idea of building an exclusive platform that would promote women’s cricket 24×7, 365 days and femalecricket.com took its shape.
India has such talented female players and have performed quite well at the world stage. Why does men’s cricket still dominate in india?
Well not anymore. That was the case some 5-6 years ago. A lot has happened in favor of women’s cricket, particularly in India since 2016. The teams are contracted now, the domestic tournaments offer a decent pay to the girls, matches are televised, the travel and stays have got better, the practice facilities have improved, the appetite for women’s cricket has increased, people acknowledge their efforts now and celebrate their victories. We have very closely seen this transition happening.
Having said that, there’s still a huge scope of improvement across all departments. Men’s cricket is seen to dominate in our country because of the obvious reason – they get to play more, prove more. That is exactly what is currently lacking in the women’s cricket ecosystem. I am very confident that once there are regular fixtures for the girls, their performance at the international level will get better and more people will take notice of the same. It is just a matter of time.
What are your views on equal pay for women cricketers? In 2019, Cricket Australia revised the salary structure to ensure equal pay for men and women in the T20 World Cup. Should the BCCI also adopt the same route?
Absolutely. That’s a constant demand we hear from fans, not just in India but around the globe. Both the men’s side and women’s side represent the country and put in equal efforts to bring laurels to their side – so why pay them differently. The goal for both the teams are the same, the expectations from the fans for both the teams are the same, so why the pay disparity?
We also need to acknowledge the fact that things are getting better with time and BCCI has done exceptionally well to ensure the girls both at the national and domestic level are remunerated for their efforts. From not having contracts in 2015 to now having 22 Contracts for the girls is one of the positives and it must be applauded. The girls deserve more and I see that happening in the near future.
Do you see challenges in terms of infrastructure and sponsorship to develop women’s cricket in India?
Yes. These are 2 key areas where we are currently lacking and I see a huge scope of improvement. At the local and grassroot level, there is a strong need for quality infrastructure. That’s where we have maximum participation. And that’s exactly where we see maximum dropouts. Sponsorship is another area that needs attention of well-wishers, corporates and institutions. If these 2 things are aligned, we would see 2X increase in female participation in the country.
To mitigate some of these challenges, we started ‘Female Cricket Academy,’ an exclusive platform that trains young girls in cricket. We are currently located only in Mumbai, but we want to reach far corners of the country and empower more young girls to take up cricket in India. We realize the potential these girls have, specially in the rural parts of the country.
In your view what are the challenges faced by Female Cricketers in India? What can be done to overcome them?
The challenges are manifold. The primary challenge is still the lack of awareness, which eventually leads to lack of participation. Social media has definitely played a key role in creating the buzz, but there’s still a wide area to cover, especially the Tier-2 and Tier-3 parts of the country, who are far from the reach of social media. The traditional mindset that girls shouldn't be allowed to go out and play with the boys still persists. The other major hurdle is the lack of resources and infrastructure at the grassroots level. The girls don’t know where to go and learn cricket, they are unaware of the pathways, there’s hardly any remuneration / pay for these girls at that level. There’s no guarantee of jobs and no assurity of livelihood unless you make it to the state side at least.
All of the above problems need to be addressed individually and at once. We, at Female Cricket have identified these challenges over a course of 5-6 years and understand that there’s no magic wand to turn things around overnight. We collectively need to work in order to ensure the smooth functioning of the system. The Board, the state government, private institutions, corporates need to come forward, devise a plan, pool the required funds and implement it.
Recently women teams were introduced in the IPL on a trial basis. Do you think the BCCI will make the women's IPL a regular affair?
They will for sure. Had it not been for COVID-19 crisis, we would have seen a mini version of Women’s IPL by now, comprising 4-6 teams. BCCI is doing their best to ensure that the girls get enough game time, keeping the safety of the players and officials in mind. With the way things are due to the unfortunate Covid situation and considering the logistical challenges, it is hard to predict when we would have a full-fledged IPL, but I do see it happening in the next 1-2 years.
The 2020 edition of Women’s T20 Challenge recorded a 147% rise in viewer minutes. Do you expect this to only increase in the next editions?
Without an iota of doubt. Women’s Cricket has evolved over the years, the matches have become very competitive, nail-biters, the skills have gone up, the love and acceptance for women’s cricket has increased with matches now being televised, the girls are now seen as a role-model to thousands of young aspirants – it’s an upward trend for women’s cricket and it shall further grow in the coming years.
What are the notable achievements of Female Cricket so far?
We started in February 2016 and have come a long way since then. We are a self-funded entity and have been bootstrapped since day one. Having been in this domain since the last 5 years, we have very closely seen the challenges that surround women’s cricket. Today, we are a community of over 1 Million people connected with us across social and digital channels. I never thought we would ever be able to attract an audience base of this size. At Female Cricket Academy, we have trained over 250+ girls in the last 3 years. We have featured on several notable publications including the renowned names like ESPN Cricinfo and SportsKeeda. However, we feel that our biggest achievement is the community that we have built at Female Cricket – it is all organic, it understands women’s cricket and celebrates every bit of it. We have received several messages from girls who got inspired to take up cricket after following our content and regular updates on social media. That was our objective when we began Female Cricket in 2016. It feels great to see that our objectives are being met and we plan to continue doing what we do – inspire and empower more girls with cricket.
What are your goals for Female Cricket in the future? How do you hope to accomplish them?
The goal is to address and mitigate all of the above mentioned hurdles and challenges. Women’s cricket deserves all the love and recognition and we will ensure it happens 24×7, 365 days. One of our missions is to encourage and inspire 1 Million Girls to take up cricket in India in the next 5 years. Besides, we want to set up more centres of Female Cricket Academy and provide a better platform for young girls and help them pursue their cricket dreams.
