Women cricketers chase cup glory and a level playing field

“Let’s show them,” the big boards say. Three words, defining the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup that kicked off on Friday — almost exactly 13 months after its postponement due to the pandemic. If you don’t know, now you do. India, the runners up from the previous edition — losing to hosts England in a tensely fought final at Lords — kick-start their campaign on Sunday morning after two years of obscurity.

That final, in 2017, was supposed to be the women’s game “coming of age” in India. An age of glorious misses, upsets, triumph of hope over expectation. Because