Former England captain Nasser Hussain stated on Thursday that the introduction of the Women’s Premier League in 2023 and a victory in the Women’s ODI World Cup have created a “unstoppable force” in Indian cricket that will deepen the game.
Late in 2025, India won the Women’s ODI World Cup and won their first ICC title. The T20 tournament, which revolutionized women’s cricket in India, was largely credited with the team’s victory.
According to Hussain, the two together are already unstoppable, and Indian cricket would eventually gain from this.
“It’s unstoppable now in the women’s, — that combination of the WPL and the 50-overs World Cup win — and the scenes at the end of that, now it’s an unstoppable force in Indian cricket and there will be more depth to the players coming through,” PTI quoted Hussain telling reporters on JioStar Media Day.
“The biggest thing for me is depth. We’re trying to work out (the best combination) in that squad now, and obviously they’re missing two (players) as well because of injuries. Two very good players, Amanjot (Kaur) in particular,” he said.
According to Hussain, the Indian women’s team used to be dependent on a small number of players, but in recent years, the team’s superstars have faced pressure from other players.
“The depth to Indian cricket may be before WPL — you go back to the World Cup final in 2017 — they relied heavily on three or four players before that, the great Mithali Raj, etc. They were lone warriors for them. Then it went to three or four (players).
“Now you’re looking at — and that’s good for Indian cricket because it means that your superstars in the team constantly have to perform because — as in the men’s, I hate going to the men’s because we’re talking women’s, but (a Vaibhav) Sooryavanshi comes along and those that (have) got places, someone has to be left out,” he added.
Hussain also noted that more cricket players will be produced if there are more financial opportunities in the sport, as demonstrated by the IPL.
“I hear rumours of parents now wanting their daughters to play more and more cricket because of the financial inducements in cricket and WPL and Big Bash and The Hundred,” he said.
“Some of The Hundred contracts we’ve seen just recently, it’s been life-changing money. It really has; Danny Gibson, Tilly Corteen-Coleman, have had life-changing contracts. It now has become a job and I don’t mean that in a negative way.”
“I said the other day that winning the World Cup for England, that was cool. I took my daughter’s side to that final. They beat India in 2017 and a lot of those girls left and thought, ‘oh, cricket’s really cool’. But cool doesn’t pay the mortgage.
“You need a job, a contract. You need finances and now the finances in the game, like in the men’s IPL, that means people from places in the past that haven’t produced cricketers. We’ve seen it in men’s Indian cricket, it (the talent) used to come from Bombay or Delhi or whatever. Now it is coming from places and that’s the same thing that will happen in the women’s.”
Hussain stated that having the ability to hit six balls is a must, even though it will be crucial to monitor the dot-ball percentage.
“The women’s game has changed from a touch game. You think of Meg Lanning, a wonderful touch player who stroked the ball to the boundary. One of the greatest I have ever seen. And now you see the power hitters that are around. They just clear the rope. They back themselves to hit sixes,” he said.
“Whichever team hits the most sixes will probably win the tournament. But also, I do always keep (an eye) on our monitor in the commentary box a dot ball percentage. There is no point having five dots and then a six,” he said.
