Women’s cricket participation doubles across 14 states since 2020

A BBC and Collective Newsroom study reveals that women’s participation in cricket across 14 Indian states has doubled since 2020, with 16 per cent of young women now playing the sport. Motivations for following women’s sports have shifted towards supporting national teams and individual athletes.

Hyderabad: A new large-scale study commissioned by the BBC and Collective Newsroom suggests that women’s participation in cricket has doubled across the 14 Indian states surveyed since 2020.

The research also finds that one in four young women aged 15 to 24 have considered sports as a career option.

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Across the states included in the study, the proportion of women who say they play cricket has risen from 5 percent in 2020 to 10 percent. Participation among young women has grown even more sharply. Sixteen per cent of women aged 15 to 24 now say they play cricket, compared with 6 percent in 2020.

Cricket has also strengthened its position as the most played sport among women in the states surveyed. In 2020 it only narrowly edged past kabaddi, but the new figures suggest it is now firmly ahead.

Participation has increased across most regions. All but two of the states surveyed report a rise in the number of women playing cricket. In Uttar Pradesh, levels of participation have increased tenfold, from one percent to ten percent.

The gender gap in cricket participation across the states covered has also narrowed. The study indicates that for every woman who plays cricket, three men play the sport. In 2020 the ratio was one to five.

Twenty‑six per cent of the young women surveyed, aged 15 to 24, say they have considered a career in sport, up from 16 percent in 2020. The highest levels are in Tamil Nadu (27 percent), Madhya Pradesh (19 percent) and Meghalaya (19 percent).

Growing audiences

Fifty‑one percent of respondents report following coverage of women’s sports in the past six months. This is now within 10 percentage points of men’s sports coverage.

Women’s Premier League

Viewership levels for the precursor to the Women’s Premier League, the T20 Challenge, rose from 15 percent in 2020, to 28 per cent watching the WPL now, across the states surveyed. These levels are approaching those for the men’s league. The research suggests recent successes by Indian sportswomen may have contributed to this growth.

Motivations changing

Support for the national team is now the main reason people say they follow or attend women’s sport, followed by support for individual sportswomen. In 2020, audiences were primarily motivated by a general interest in sport.

Participation in badminton has also risen among women surveyed, particularly in Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.