India's women waited nearly fifty years to lift their first World Cup
India's women played their first Test in 1976, decades after the men. Twice they reached a World Cup final and lost. Then in November 2025, after chasing down 339 against Australia in the semi-final, they beat South Africa by 52 runs in Navi Mumbai to become world champions at last.
Organised women's cricket came late to India. The Women's Cricket Association of India was founded in 1973, and on 31 October 1976 the national side met the West Indies in Bangalore for a drawn first Test. Within weeks, in November 1976, Shantha Rangaswamy captained them to a first Test victory in Patna. As part of a push by the International Cricket Council to develop the women's game, the association was folded into the national cricket board, the BCCI, in the 2006/07 season.
Near misses shaped the story. Australia beat India by 98 runs in the 2005 World Cup final; twelve years later England edged them by just 9 runs in another final. They also fell to Australia by 85 runs in the 2020 T20 World Cup final. Yet they dominated their own continent, collecting the ODI Asia Cup a record four times between 2004 and 2008 and the T20 version four times as well. In July 2025 they won a T20 series in England for the first time, sealing a 3–1 lead at Worcester.
Individual feats stand out. Mithali Raj hit 214 against England at Taunton in 2002, and at the same ground Jhulan Goswami took 10 for 78 in a 2006 Test. Deepti Sharma made 188 against Ireland in 2017, and in June 2024 the side piled up 603 for 6 declared against South Africa in Chennai, their highest Test total.
Pay has shifted too. On 27 October 2022 the board adopted equal match fees for men and women, so a Test now earns ₹15 lakh, an ODI ₹6 lakh and a T20 international ₹3 lakh. Right now India are champions of the world, of Asia's continental cup and of the Asian Games, having taken gold at the Games in both 2022 and 2026.
Source: India women's national cricket team
