50 Years of Indian Women’s Cricket: A 1975–2025 Journey of Grit and Glory

As the 50th anniversary of Indian Women's Cricket in India approaches, thinking back to when it all started in 1975, it's remarkable to witness how much women’s cricket has changed, as a result of everyone's hard work and how far they've come. Indian women's cricket boasts a fascinating history, from the very start to getting where they are now; it's all about love for the game, rough patches, and stars being born. This year, on August 11, they organized a gathering in Mumbai for the 50th anniversary. Veteran players, current players, plus some important people and fans, all showed up. The occasion marked the celebrations of the trailblazers who set the stage and identified the current stars who have taken the game to heights never before imagined. What a fantastic celebration of women's cricket today, marking 50 days to go until the @cricketworldcup. This promises to be the biggest women's cricket event ever and it all begins on September 30. #CWC25 pic.twitter.com/B9r4OxooIx— Jay Shah (@JayShah) August 11, 2025 Beginning of this glory: Indian Women's cricket started its way in the year 1973 with the formation of the Women's Cricket Association of India (WCAI) in Lucknow, and, in this manner, organised women's cricket in India began. Its founder-secretary was Mahendra Kumar Sharma, who organized interstate competitions, such as the first Women's Inter-State Nationals in Pune and the Inter-Zonal Rani Jhansi Trophy in Kanpur the same year. In 1978, the WCAI came to the forefront in the international arena with its membership in the International Women's Cricket Council and government recognition. In February 1975, the first official home international match to be hosted in India was when the Australian under-25 team visited India. In October and November 1976, the history of first women's Test series took place and was a series of six Test matches against the West Indies. The first ever Test match was won by India on November 19 at Patna in front of over 25000 spectators, and this has created an atmosphere of considerable interest and excitement. Support from Institutions and Expanding Infrastructure: In 2006, WCAI and the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) merged. This integration made better finance, central contracts, more enhanced domestic competitions, and more visibility of Indian Women's Cricket. To help Indian women's cricket grow strong, women cricketers from India now play in organized tournaments like the Senior Women's One Day League, T20 League, and age-group matches here at home. Notable Moments on the International Stage: India's getting noticed worldwide, which is reflected in their two stunning performances to the Women's World Cup finals: Back in 2005, Mithali Raj helped India reach the finals, and that drew considerable attention to women's cricket. They performed exceptionally well again in 2017 after a series of awesome games. Harmanpreet Kaur's crazy 171 against Australia really put women's cricket into the limelight across India. India has reached the T20 semifinals a few times too. On the regional level, India managed to secure the women's Asia Cup seven times in a row. Moreover, the team has gained silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and gold at the 2022 Asian Games, which promoted the supporting mood and perceptions on Indian Women's Cricket. The Beginning of WPL : The Women's Premier League (WPL) kicked off in 2023, which was a major milestone for Indian Women's Cricket. With media rights sold to Viacom18 for approximately ₹951 crore (~US$116 million) and franchise rights selling for about ₹4,670 crore (~US$572 million), it gave Indian Women's Cricket financial clout and international recognition. According to Mithali Raj, the WPL was a turning point that improved chances and professional standards for female cricket players. Many emerging young players made headlines, and the league serves as a crucial audition for national selection. The Stars of Indian Cricket and their records: Harmanpreet Kaur, the Indian women's cricket team captain and a fantastic all-rounder, really shows how much progress they've made. By August 2025, she'd scored 4,069 runs in 149 ODI games.. Her average was 37.67; she scored 19 half-centuries and 7 centuries, and her best score was 171. Also, she's the only Indian woman with more than 3,000 runs in T20I, with a total of 3,654 runs. Here are some other Indian Women's Cricket team players who made history: Jhulan Goswami: The Indian legend, also known as the Chakdaha Express, is the top ODI wicket-taker. She took 255 ODI wickets out of her 355 international wickets. Now that she's retired, she's helping young bowlers get better. Mithali Raj: She inspired a new generation by leading India to the 2005 and 2017 World Cup finals and scoring 7,805 ODI runs, including 7 centuries and 64 fifties, making her the face of Indian women's cricket for over 20 years. Smriti Mandhana: She's the first female Indian cricketer to score a century in every game format. She also scored the most T20I runs in a year (763) and racked up the most international runs in a single calendar year (1,602). Shafali Verma: She holds the record of the quickest Test century (113 balls), quickest Test double hundred (205 in 194 balls), and quickest opening partnership with Mandhana. Deepti Sharma and Punam Raut: In 2017, the Indian women's cricket and men's ODI opening record was broken as Deepti Sharma and Punam Raut made history with an amazing record of 320 runs opening stand with Ireland. Deepti also established a record in the match when she scored 188 runs individually, and that remains the highest score by an Indian woman in an ODI. Jemimah Rodrigues: She has over 1,900+ T20Is and 1,200+ ODI runs and is an emergent star who contributed to the 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medal. She is the star of the WPL in the Delhi Capitals and was considered the future leader of the team. The history of Indian Women's Cricket has seen cricket evolve to a high level of interest across the world within the time span of 1975-2025. Institutional support, creative performances, business innovations, and cultural changes have made it a force of pride and opportunity now. The golden jubilee celebration of Mumbai was a reminder that the following fifty years can be even more revolutionary than the last fifty years.