CHENNAI: Gisele Ishimwe remembers the celebration that followed after Rwanda’s victory against Tanzania in September to qualify for the inaugural U19 Women’s T20 World Cup, which is set to get underway on Saturday in South Africa. The entire country came together to celebrate the teenagers who had made history. She hadn’t seen anything like it in her country.
When Theertha Sathish led the United Arab Emirates to qualification in June, the families of the players were in tears at the venue in Kuala Lumpur. For them, it was a dream come true moment.
It is not just the two aforementioned countries though. There are also Indonesia, Scotland, Zimbabwe and the United States of America who will be playing their first-ever ICC Women’s World Cup. They will be competing against the top sides in the 16-team, four-group, 41-game tournament over the next fortnight.
If the prospect of all this isn’t enough to be hyped about the tournament, get this. In the last week, Rwanda have beaten Ireland, Bangladesh have overpowered India, who cruised past Australia and Indonesia have trumped Zimbabwe.
It is a tournament where, it seems, any result is possible on a given day.
It is a tournament where teams like UAE have players with lots of international experience while England and Australia have named a squad with no capped players. India have two in captain Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh, but that in no way seems to be making a difference, at least so far in the warm-ups. But these are just the cricketing contests.
This World Cup is so much more than what happens on the field over the next 15 days. It is about having an U19 tournament for women for the first time — 35 years after the inaugural men's Youth T20 World Cup and 25 years after the ICC made it a biennial event. It is about giving a stage for young talents and expanding the horizon of women’s sport. It is about making sure the players go through an age-group system before they get to the international stage.
Ask Mithali Raj, who made her India debut as a 16-year-old, the ambassador for this World Cup. Or Amy Hunter, the other teenager who broke Mithali’s record by smashing a hundred on her 16th birthday, and will be leading Ireland in the tournament. Or ask Snehal Pradhan, the former India cricketer, who is now the manager of women’s cricket at the international governing body and they will tell you the significance of this event.
“It can’t be overstated what a great opportunity this is to experience a global event in their teens. They are getting exposure which they deserve, and this will provide a great step to progress to senior cricket,” Pradhan said recently.
Above all, there is an undeniable romance when a group of teenagers, albeit in a professional capacity while chasing their dreams, go about playing the sport. It rekindles the spirit of everyone and reminds them of the sport they fell in love with as a kid, the sport so many wanted to pursue but couldn’t.
As it is often said by so many top-level athletes, you can’t become what you cannot see. While the generation of Mithali got into the sport without knowing the existence of a women’s team in their country, they have ensured that there are enough role models for this group of youngsters to reach thus far.
Come Saturday, the baton will be passed as the next generation is ready to show the young girls across the world what they could dream of becoming.