Former BCCI President’s N Srinivasan's misogynistic remarks on women’s cricket resurface after India's World Cup triumph

Former Indian captain Diana Edulji had alleged in 2017 that N. Srinivasan once claimed he did not care about women’s cricket. Those remarks have since resurfaced as the Women in Blue have brought glory home, winning the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup 2025. Notably, the silverware had remained elusive for India for 52 years, ever since the first Women’s ODI World Cup, one India didn’t even qualify for as the country had no women’s team then. But the Women in Blue have finally brought glory home.

It is fitting that the number 52 appears once again, this time as the margin of victory, as India defeated South Africa at the DY Patil Stadium by that margin to end their long wait for a World Cup title. The players made sure to share their triumph with Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami, two icons of Indian cricket in the 21st century, as they lifted the trophy in the first World Cup since the legendary duo’s retirement.

However, the story of Indian women’s cricket runs much deeper. It is one of perseverance of players who had to battle not just opponents on the field, but also entrenched forces within a male-dominated cricket establishment that often failed to support them.

India’s World Cup success cannot be celebrated without acknowledging this long and difficult journey. Fans were reminded of how far the game has come from neglect and indifference to global triumph. And through it all, Edulji, who captained India between 1978 and 1993, stood as a fearless advocate for women’s cricket, never hesitating to confront misogyny within the system, even to this day.

“I’ve always been a BCCI basher, right from the day women’s cricket came into the BCCI fold in 2006,” Edulji had said at an Indian Express event in 2017, following India’s heartbreaking loss in that year’s ODI World Cup final.

“BCCI is a very male chauvinist organisation. They never wanted women to dictate terms or get into this thing. I was very vocal from the start of my playing days. Even now, I would still say that it is not yet well accepted within the BCCI that women’s cricket is doing well,” she added.

She would later be nominated by the Supreme Court to the Committee of Administrators (CoA) for the BCCI, a role through which she sought to bring about top-down change in how women’s cricket was perceived and managed in India. As part of this effort, she frequently clashed with powerful figures within the board, including the former BCCI president, whom she claimed had bluntly told her that women’s cricket was never a priority on his agenda.

“It is very difficult for them to accept the fact that this team has done very well. When Mr Srinivasan became president, I would like to say that I went to congratulate him at the Wankhede Stadium (after the men’s team’s 2011 World Cup win). He said, ‘If I had my way, I wouldn’t let women’s cricket happen’. He hates women’s cricket,” said Edulji.