Women's Cricket Victory & Shift in Finance
Green Portfolio celebrates the storm that women are
Years ago, in Agra’s Awadhpuri Colony, a young Deepti Sharma would slip out of her home to watch her brother play cricket with the boys, hovering by the boundary rope like a girl pressing her face to a window she was never meant to look through.
About 550 kilometers away, in Moga, Punjab, Harmanpreet Kaur once cut off her long hair because it came in the way of her batting. Mind you, this was a radical act in a society where long hair represents femininity.
None of them knew it then that they would be the part of Indian women’s cricket team and will win for India its first-ever ICC Women’s ODI World Cup.
The Indian women’s cricket team won the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup on November 2, 2025, by defeating South Africa by 52 runs in the final held at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
This was a moment of celebration for India. At our fund house, it reminded us of the equally inspiring changes happening in the world of investing at our fund house.
Every day, we witness more and more women taking charge of their finances and making independent investment decisions. The women cricket team’s victory has provided the perfect opportunity for us to reflect and honor the remarkable progress women continue to make everywhere important - whether it’s the field or the finances.
The beginning of an era..
In 1973, Mahendra Kumar Sharma from Lucknow founded the Women’s Cricket Association of India (WCAI) under the Societies Act (a law that lets groups register officially to work together for social, charitable, or educational causes). This turned the scattered enthusiasm for women’s cricket into an organized national sport.
Although the first women’s cricket club, The Albees, was started in Mumbai in 1969 by Aloo Bamjee, Sharma’s efforts formalized the game nationally by bringing together representatives from various states and organizing the first inter-state nationals that year.
Sharma worked despite the social resistance that viewed women’s sports as a taboo. The WCAI soon joined the International Women’s Cricket Council in 1973 and gained government recognition in 1978.
Lucknow became the center for early women’s cricket, hosting national tournaments and nurturing stars like Diana Edulji, Shanta Rangaswamy, and Anjum Chopra. These women who overcame limited resources, family opposition, and played purely for their passion for the game, were the pioneers of women’s cricket in India.
From the 1970s onwards, Indian Railways played a crucial role in supporting women’s cricket by offering stable jobs to players.
They provided employment, travel facilities like AC coaches, and organized internal tournaments, creating a reliable platform for players like Jhulan Goswami to train and compete regularly. Though not glamorous, this support kept women’s cricket alive and growing when official funding and recognition were limited.
However, everything changed in 2006 when the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) formally took over women’s cricket.
Players finally got official contracts. Training facilities improved. Standard matches became the norm. Visibility increased.
New stars rose: Mithali Raj (whose 2002 Test double-century paved the path forward), Jhulan Goswami, Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, and Deepti Sharma.
The team reached consecutive finals- a heartbreaking loss to England by just 9 runs in 2017 (where Harmanpreet Kaur’s legendary 171 against Australia became folklore), another semifinal in 2022. Each near-miss was a lesson. Each loss was fuel.
The day of victory looked like over 60,000 fans cheering and 185 million watching on TV, when India scored 282 runs for 6 wickets against South Africa. Bowlers like Deepti Sharma took key wickets, helping to bowl South Africa out for 230, giving India a 52-run victory.
But the system throughout had remained unequal. Leadership skepticism persisted. Let me tell you exactly why I say this- BCCI Vice President Niranjan Shah once stated that higher payments for women’s cricket were unnecessary for improvement.
Many women players endured harassment and discrimination at practice grounds and stadiums, often being overlooked or treated unfairly compared to their male counterparts.
This gives you a peek into bad funding and inadequate facilities for these players for years. Women played in shadows while men’s cricket received prime airtime and institutional resources.
Our fund house, had reasons more than one to appreciate the stories of despair and success for Indian women cricket team.
In cricket, girls were discouraged, mimicked, and kept out of male-dominated spaces. In investing, women hold 32% of equities but face a “confidence gap” where only 1 in 6 women feels fully secure in long-term financial goals
In cricket, pay disparities meant retainers of ₹50 lakh for top women versus ₹1 crore for men. In investing, venture capital allocates just 2.3% of funding to women-led teams, yet diverse firms direct 4.7 times more to such ventures
Both fields show a pattern: women deliver competent results once given access.
The aftermath of the women’s cricket team is equally interesting. From Deepti Sharma’s Agra to Richa Ghosh’s Siliguri, women and men alike were inspired. This growing visibility led to a surge in demand for coaching and academy admissions, turning individual triumph into a collective movement of empowerment and identity.
Similarly, this reminds us of how women’s progress in investing reflects this shift from invisibility to influence. Once discouraged or sidelined, more women today are confidently managing finances and opening investment accounts, driving up enrollments in financial education and digital trading platforms.
Much like cricket’s newfound prominence inspires young players, rising female investor participation is reshaping India’s financial landscape with a new empowered identity.
With this, we at Green Portfolio celebrate the storm that women are!
Why it is important for the journey of India’s women cricketers to be talked about is because is not just about breaking records, it’s about breaking barriers that once seemed insurmountable.
Their victory is a symbol of what is possible when courage meets opportunity, and it mirrors the progress women are making in finance and investing across India.
From the cricket field to financial markets, women are consistently overturning the old order, building their own legacies, and inspiring generations to reach higher.
Whether in sports or in the boardroom, the evidence is clear: women are shaping a new future for India!