“As Indians, culturally, it’s very different,” Rangarajan told ESPNcricinfo. “You needed a catalyst to bring in that change, and I keep saying that every time I talk about it, I get goosebumps.
“Harman [Harmanpreet Kaur] and the team winning that World Cup has changed the landscape of cricket for women and it just gives hope and it gives the confidence for parents back home in India to tell their girl children, ‘it’s okay, go out of the house, go to work, go to play, it’s fine’. That was the impact that it had on us as Indians and as a whole demographic in India.
“I know it’s culturally very different here, but sure if England go on to – although I want India to win the World Cup – but if England do win the World Cup here and then it’s followed by the Hundred, it will have a huge change. You will have a lot more girls and parents encouraging them, ‘Come watch the game!’ So I’m really excited for what’s ahead.”
The WPL has just completed its fourth season and has fuelled steady growth and attention in the women’s game in India, but there was a lingering sense that until India won a senior women’s world title, there remained a gap to making it mainstream.
Now, captain Harmanpreet and her players are on the covers of magazines, on major TV shows, featuring in more advertisements and, importantly, cricket is increasingly seen as a career path for women and girls in the country.
Women’s cricket is also experiencing exponential growth in the UK, with the Hundred auction propelling some players into the mainstream of women’s sport as some of the leading earners among professional athletes.
At Spirit, she will join fellow South African Marizanne Kapp, Australia’s Grace Harris and England vice-captain Charlie Dean, all of whom were pre-auction signings.
“Because we had retained so many allrounders in Grace, Marizanne and Charlie Dean, it gave us options going into the auction,” Rangarajan said. “With Nadine, we know what she does really well, she is an option for us with the ball – middle, death – and as a batter.
“She’s been with RCB for a while now and obviously she’s had a very good last 12 to 18 months with RCB and the South African team also. As a batter, she gives us depth, has the ability to go play higher up the order if required.”
“We’ve got four pacers in the team now in Marizanne, Nadine, Dottin, and Mahika Gaur, all different, so we’ve got variation in the attack,” Ragarajan said. “Mahika, with her left-arm angle, taller. Marizanne Kapp, I’m not going to waste anybody’s time talking about how good she is with the ball. Nadine gives us an option through the middle and Dottin, she’s just a plug-in player for us, we could use her however we wish, and that’s the benefit of having allrounders in your team.”
India allrounder Deepti Sharma was another great deal, going to Sunrisers Leeds for her base price of £27,500, after she had been the joint second-most expensive player ever sold at a WPL auction when she returned to UP Warriorz for INR 3.2 crore (£272,000) for this year.
Wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh went to Manchester Super Giants for a song at £50,000 after they lost a bidding war with Trent Rockets for Mooney. Ghosh had been retained by RCB for INR 2.75 crore (£223,000).
But Rangarajan wasn’t surprised to see two stars of the India team snapped up with relatively low price tags, given his experience of “auction dynamics” in the WPL.
“I’ve learned this; the auction has seriously got to do with when you turn up and what the gaps are in the team,” he said. “I think people were keeping their powder dry for some of the players, so I wouldn’t say it’s surprising.
“You just learn to acknowledge that it’s the auction order and auction dynamics, as they say. I would have loved for them to get a bigger pay cheque, but they’ll be happy with what they get in the WPL.”
Valkerie Baynes is a general editor, women’s cricket, at ESPNcricinfo
