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After India women’s cricket team’s historic World Cup triumph on Sunday, an old comment by former BCCI president N. Srinivasan has resurfaced — in which the veteran administrator had allegedly told former India captain Diana Edulji that he would “never let women’s cricket grow in India.”

At an event in 2017, after Harmanpreet Kaur's magnificent 171 against Australia in the semifinal of the Women’s World Cup, Diana had recalled her first meeting with Srinivasan after he took over as BCCI president in 2011. She said, “When Mr. Srinivasan became president, I went to congratulate him at the Wankhede Stadium. He said, ‘If I had my way, I wouldn’t let women’s cricket happen.’ He hates women’s cricket.”


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"I’ve always been a BCCI basher, right from the day women’s cricket came under the BCCI fold in 2006. BCCI is a very male-chauvinist organisation. They never wanted women to dictate terms or get into this space. I was very vocal right from my playing days,” she had said.

India won the Women’s Cricket World Cup for the first time with a 52-run victory over South Africa on Sunday, led by brilliant all-round performances from Deepti Sharma and Shafali Verma.

Opening batter Verma, who was only called back into the squad as injury cover for the finals, scored a career-best 87 off 78 balls as the tournament co-hosts reached 298/7 in 50 overs after losing the toss and being sent in to bat.

South Africa were bowled out for 246 in 45.3 overs in reply, with their chase effectively ending after skipper Laura Wolvaardt was dismissed for 101. Spinner Sharma took the final wicket of the match and returned with figures of 5/39 from 9.3 overs.

Team India’s World Cup-winning captain Harmanpreet Kaur on Sunday also took a subtle dig at those who had questioned her team.

"I think criticism is also a part of life. It’s not necessary that everything should be good," she told reporters.

"Criticism is one of the main things in life because it brings balance. Otherwise, if everything goes well, you’ll be overconfident. I don’t blame those who criticize, because we know when we aren’t doing something right.

"I don’t have much to say, but I like to keep both things balanced. When good things happen, I don’t go too high; when bad things happen, I don’t dig deep.

"For me, the most important thing is to stay balanced, and I try to send the same message to my teammates. When everything is going well — it’s okay, well done, but now we have to maintain it. And even when things aren’t going well, we try to keep everyone together so that we can lift that person up."

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