The year 2023 has brought a lot of wonderful moments for Indian women’s cricket. The start of the year was tremendous as the Shafali Verma-led side won the inaugural edition of the U19 Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 and the first season of the Women’s Premier League a great achievement for Women’s cricket in India. The Indian women’s cricket team also went through the knockout stage of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 but was not able to reach the finals. The Indian girls faced a heartbreaking loss in the finals but still gave a lot of moments for the country to be proud.
Why is 2023 so special for women’s cricket in India?
The Women in blue has given the country many reasons to be proud. Let’s have a look at the following moments:
- Shafali Verma led side wins the U19 T20 World Cup 2023. Senior Indian women’s team opener Shafali Verma was given the responsibility to lead the young Indian girls and Shafali proved to be a great leader as she led the Indian U19 team to win the U19 Women’s T20 World ahead. This was also the first edition of the U19 Women’s T20 World Cup. Apart from Shafali Verma, another Indian senior team member Richa Ghosh was also part of the World Cup-winning squad. Richa was responsible for finishing the innings lower down the order and also dismissing the batters with her wicketkeeping tactics behind the wickets.
- ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023: Harmanpreet Kaur led the Indian Women’s cricket team was not able to make it to the final of the tournament and received a heartbreaking defeat in the semi-final by Australia. Though the Indian team was defeated in the semi-final, the tournament was very useful for the Indian women’s cricket team. Despite Team India’s loss in the semi-final, the group stage was absolutely phenomenal for the Women in blue. Smriti Mandhana as usual was team India’s highest run scorer in the tournament and Renuka Singh was the top wicket-taker for Team India. Richa Ghosh made it to the team of the tournament and was also one of the key performers for Team India in the tournament. Jemimah Rodrigues also gave valuable contributions with her bat.
- Women’s Premier League: The most remembered moment for women’s cricket in India has been the start of the Women’s Premier League. The Women’s Premier League auction saw a lot of popular players from around the world go under the hammer and also received good prices for their names and performances. The Women’s Premier League began on March 4, 2023, at the Dr DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai. The inaugural match was played between Gujarat Giants and Mumbai Indians in which at last Mumbai emerged victorious. The WPL will certainly prove to be very effective for Women’s cricket in India and also produce many new talents.
