Chandigarh, Nov 13: The night India lifted their maiden 50-over World Cup trophy in Navi Mumbai didn’t just change the country’s cricketing history — it redrew the map of sports marketing. For the first time, the faces beaming from billboards and the front pages weren’t men in blue, but women whose grit and grace had captured a billion hearts.
Captain Harmanpreet Kaur, 36, who led the side through a tense, see-saw campaign, woke up the next morning to a flood of calls from brands. Within hours, she was unveiled as the ambassador for a real estate developer — her smile radiating the same calm that had defined her captaincy through the tournament.
For her teammates too, the tide had turned. Batter Harleen Deol’s playful exchange with Prime Minister Narendra Modi — asking about his skincare routine during the felicitation ceremony — became a marketer’s goldmine. A leading cosmetic brand swiftly turned the viral moment into a campaign, featuring Deol asking everyone their skincare secret before revealing her own.
Meanwhile, Jemimah Rodrigues, 25, became the face of another kind of story. A detergent brand transformed the image of her mud-streaked shirt — worn during her match-winning innings — into a symbol of effort, pride and passion. The shirt, they said, wasn’t meant to be cleaned. It was meant to be framed.
Tuhin Mishra, Managing Director of Baseline Ventures, which represents four players from the victorious squad, calls it “a watershed moment for women’s cricket and women’s sport.” He says brands are queuing up, not out of charity but out of genuine excitement. “We’re getting a lot of queries and offers across categories,” Mishra said. “We’re expecting at least a 20-25% increase in brand value for most players. For Smriti Mandhana, it’s even higher. She’s already among the top-most women athletes globally.”
Mandhana’s social media footprint, now exceeding 14 million followers, has given her and her peers a new kind of reach. And it’s not just limited to fast-moving consumer goods. The women are now being courted by sectors once reserved for their male counterparts — mobile phones, two-wheelers, automobiles and banking.
Karan Yadav, Chief Commercial Officer at JSW Sports, confirmed the surge. “The increase has been at least two to three times after the World Cup. It actually began after the semi-final against Australia,” he said. “That game changed everything. We closed long-term partnerships right after it.”
The semi-final, where Rodrigues produced a sensational century to topple Australia, may have permanently altered the landscape of Indian women’s cricket. “That match was a turning point,” Yadav said. “Everyone thought it would be Australia in the final.”
As endorsement deals multiply and new partnerships unfold, experts believe brands need to think long-term. “If you invest in players like Smriti or Richa Ghosh now,” Mishra said, “you’re not just signing a celebrity — you’re becoming part of a journey that will inspire millions.”
The World Cup may have ended under floodlights, but for India’s women cricketers, the spotlight is only beginning to shine brighter.
