In 2003-2005, when the women’s cricket team was facing financial crisis, Mandira Bedi helped. He gathered sponsors and donated his advertising fees to arrange flight tickets for the team’s foreign tours.
Mumbai: The Indian women’s cricket team has created history by winning the ODI World Cup, after which the BCCI and state governments have showered rewards worth crores of rupees on the players. But amid this spectacular victory, most of the fans would hardly remember that there was a time when Indian women players did not even have money for flight tickets to play the series. There is no need to go back very far for this. In the 2003–2005 season, when Indian women cricketers were struggling to even get flight tickets without the support of sponsors or the BCCI, Bollywood star and cricket presenter Mandira Bedi helped the team. Most of the sports lovers of this generation would not know this.
‘Invisible’ sponsor of Indian women’s team!
At that time the Indian women’s team did not play under the BCCI, but under the Indian Women’s Cricket Association. In that period, players or matches did not get much audience, hence the team did not have any confirmed sponsor. But when the team was worried about flight tickets, Mandira Bedi came forward to help. He used his influence in the film industry to garner sponsors and help the Indian team by arranging flight tickets for overseas series.
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Mandira had given the entire advertisement earnings to the team
Nutan Gavaskar, former secretary of the Women’s Cricket Association, has told that once Mandira Bedi had given the entire amount received from a jewelery advertisement to the team. That money was used to buy tickets for the players for the Indian women’s team’s tour of England. The Women’s Cricket Association, formed in 1973, continued to function as an independent organization until 2006. In 2006 it was brought under BCCI. Even though today the Indian women’s team is ruling the world by becoming the champion, but no one can forget the contribution of people like Mandira Bedi in strengthening the team in the initial days.
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India won its first ICC trophy within 3 years of WPL starting!
In recent years, the Women’s Premier League (WPL), popularly known as the Women’s IPL, is also a major reason for India’s great success. The first season of the WPL started in 2023, which produced many talented players. This time, this was the first World Cup for 10 out of 15 players included in the World Cup team. In just the third year of the inception of WPL, the Indian women’s team has won the ICC trophy. Interestingly, IPL started in 2008 and just three years later in 2011, the Indian men’s team won the ICC ODI World Cup.