Sanjog Gupta, the chief executive of the International Cricket Council, maintains that the Women’s T20 World Cup and the FIFA World Cup can “co-exist.”
In front of 14,865 spectators at Edgbaston on Friday, England defeated Sri Lanka by 87 runs to start the tournament on home soil.
The success of England’s female rugby and football teams at the Rugby World Cup and European Championships in recent years brought them widespread praise.
However, at a time when the men’s football World Cup is dominating the sports scene in North America, their cricketing counterparts are aiming for glory.
According to Gupta, ticket sales for the three-week event reached almost 220,000 before a ball was bowled, setting a tournament record and indicating that the women’s event may be of appeal to the general audience.
“We genuinely see this event as a seminal moment for the sport. I think the World Cups can co-exist. We’ve not seen any impact on ticket sales.
“If anything, the ticket sales have been stronger than ever, which is why we’re at a point where we’ve sold more tickets than any previous edition of the Women’s T20 World Cup.
“Our attendance numbers are tracking in the manner that we expected them to and the projections are for them to touch 300,000. If the weather holds up then we will have a fantastic tournament which will stand in its own right.
“We’ve seen tremendous acceleration in the growth of women’s cricket to an extent where we now believe this event could potentially be one of the two biggest women’s sporting events ever. It is not in any way being played in the shadow of the FIFA Men’s World Cup,” AFP quoted Gupta as saying.
