Brightest times ahead for women's cricket: Nita Ambani

Nita Ambani, Founder and Chairperson, Reliance Foundation, on Monday said she is optimistic about the future of women's cricket in India, adding that she foresees the 'greatest and brightest times ahead for all our girls'.

"I foresee the greatest and brightest times ahead for all our girls. Our girls have proven time and again that given the right opportunities, they can shine on the global stage. In the last six years, our girls have been a dominating force in the ODI and T20 World Cup competitions. Players like Anjum Chopra, Jhulan Goswami, and Mithali Raj are the legends of the game. We now have Smriti Mandhana, Poonam Yadav, and Harmanpreet Kaur taking women's cricket forward. I firmly believe as women's cricket gets more structured, competitive, and engaging, it will open up many more opportunities for our girls," Ambani said in a video posted by the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Mumbai Indians on Twitter.

In the video, she also sent her best wishes to Supernovas and Trailblazers, who competed in the final of the tournament. Trailblazers won the Women's T20 Challenge title after defeating Supernovas by 16 runs at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Monday.

"For me, it has been a passion and priority to support and encourage women in every sphere, especially sports. Through the Reliance Foundation Education and Sports for All, we work with young talented girls across multiple sports. Till now, we have reached out to 21.5 million children across India. It gives me great joy that Jio and Reliance Foundation, ESA are now supporting women's cricket at the professional level," Ambani said.

"It is a step towards promoting, supporting, and celebrating greater equality and participation for women in sports. I am delighted to witness 33 of our Indian girls and 12 foreign players in this year's Jio Women's T20 Challenge. For the first time, we have a representation from Thailand by a 24-year-old Natthakan. My best wishes to Supernovas and Trailblazers for the final. In the end, it will be women's cricket who will be the winner today. And it will aspire many young girls to take up the sport professionally," she added.

Ambani then shed light on what a sport needs to grow. She said a holistic ecosystem needs to be developed around it and opportunities should be presented at the highest level.

"For any sport to grow, we need to develop a holistic ecosystem around it, along with opportunities at the highest level. We need to provide world-class infrastructure, training, and support for all our girls," she said.

"We have offered Jio Cricket Stadium at Navi Mumbai for all our women cricketers for practice, trials, and competitive matches throughout the year. We also know that rehab is such an important part of an athlete's life. Therefore, we offer the services of our sports science and rehab centre at Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital for all our girls," Ambani added.