The 2025 Women's World Cup got off to a specatcular start in Guwahati, where the lines between cricket and culture blurred. Naman Agarwal writes from the venue on a night that hinted at what the future of the women’s game could look like.
“Smiti Mandhana.”
No, that’s not a naming typo of India’s batting great. That’s how nine-year-old Tanvi pronounces the name of her favourite cricketer.
Aspiring to take up the sport herself, Tanvi was accompanied by her parents and her lightweight SG bat at the Barsapara Stadium for the 2025 Women’s World Cup opener. And she wasn’t alone.
Barsapara was dotted with young girls in ponytails and face paint, waving flags and cheering the Indian team along. By the end of Tuesday, many of those young fans had witnessed a spectacle.
India had secured a comprehensive victory despite Inoka Ranaweera’s magical spell that threatened to gatecrash their launch party, winning the first match of the tournament comfortably by 59 runs.
Also read: World Cup 2025: Five balls of mayhem that nearly gatecrashed India's opening party
When the veteran Sri Lankan spinner sliced through the Indian batting soon after the Guwahati sky turned a brilliant orange, it felt like the script the game was supposed to follow had flipped. Instead, it turned out to be an important plot point that gave India the opportunity to showcase their depth and skills to the 22,843 fans who had come to watch. They won them over with grit and resilience, instead of flamboyance and extravagance.
The number here is significant. Never before had as many attended a league match in a Women’s World Cup, irrespective of format.
Concerns were raised about the choice of venues for the World Cup, which does not include any of the big cricket centres in India. Bengaluru had to be replaced by Navi Mumbai two months ahead of the start of the tournament. But the record turnout in Guwahati for the opening game seems to have silenced some of the skeptics.
Not all of the people who turned up were there for just the cricket though. Many in the stands were drawn by the tribute Assam Cricket Association had planned to give to the late Zubeen Garg, the singing icon whose death plunged the city into mourning two weeks back. Others had come just for the chance to see Shreya Ghoshal, another musical titan, in the flesh.
“A Shreya Ghoshal concert ticket would cost at least two thousand rupees. The World Cup ticket costs a hundred bucks. These people are here to watch Shreya Ghoshal perform at the price of a women’s cricket game,” a spectator said close to the innings break.
The mid-innings ceremony, as it turned out, was a thing of beauty.
For a brief period, the place transformed from being a cricket stadium to a concert venue. Every single person was up on their feet, standing on the very seats they had to soon sit back down, mobile phones out to capture the spellbinding spectacle unfolding before their eyes. Fireworks and lightshows were perfectly synced and Ghoshal’s captivating voice moved many to tears. The press box had emptied, with journalists and media managers stepping into the stands to soak in the atmosphere without the filter of a glass cabin.
Most opening ceremonies in cricket are often just opening formalities. Guwahati felt like an exception. The event was well-marketed, but more importantly, well-executed.
Concerns and questions still rightfully remain over how lasting this early effect can be. Women’s cricket in the country, and the mindset of fans, has improved considerably over the past decade, but it’s still far from where it should be. More than half the crowd dispersed after the event as India fielded in front of dwindling numbers in the stands. By the time the match finished, the stadium was nearly empty. Was the theory right? Was the cultural event more attractive than the cricket itself?
It’s easy to see how this can be viewed as a problem. But is it really one?
Women’s cricket in India is at a juncture it has never been before in terms of popularity. But it’s not yet at a stage where it’s realistic to expect the players alone to drive ticket sales and viewership numbers. Blending mainstream entertainment with the sport to draw potential new fans in is a reasonable first-step strategy. You only need to be at the stadium, or in front of screens, to know that the quality of cricket won’t disappoint.
Also read: Women's World Cup 2025 power rankings: Can India challenge Australia on home soil?
In that sense, Guwahati did well to balance a complex mix of emotions: an unfortunate demise, a month of festivities, and a landmark global tournament, all in a city that isn’t the country’s big-ticket sporting hub. The opening act made all the right noises.
Leading up to the tournament, there was genuine worry that a home tournament will have its fair share of management troubles. Fan experience in Indian stadiums has been harrowing at times, with issues ranging from food to toilets, and everything in between. On Tuesday, there were no real grumblings that went viral on social media. At ground zero, apart from excessively priced food and drinks inside the venue, there didn’t seem to be a lot of groans. The rain breaks were handled without any hiccups and the cricket on display was high-quality.
Don’t be surprised if turnouts for the non-India games aren’t up to the same level going forward in the World Cup. The second match - between Australia and New Zealand in Colombo - for instance, was played in front of largely empty stands. This will be the case at times during the World Cup, but it's important not to fall into the trap of questioning the viability of the sport. Guwahati should be the cue for other venues to get creative and give people more reasons to come in, rather than expecting them to care by default.
If you’re worried about the actual game getting lost amidst this, worry not. Skill and depth levels across the sport are at an all-time high. Teams have crossed 300 on 37 occasions in the three and a half years since the last ODI World Cup, compared to 48 scores of 300-plus in the 49 years before that. India’s last ODI before the Guwahati opener saw them threaten a 400-plus run-chase against Australia. Pakistan and South Africa combined to break the world record for the most centuries in a bilateral series two weeks ahead of the World Cup.
Essentially, the cricket will not take a backseat regardless of the glamour of the packaging around it. It will just have a companion to help take it forward, like it did in Guwahati. And for thousands of little “Smiti” fans, that might be all it takes to turn a passing interest into a lasting love.
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