It was in 1978 that the Indian women made their first appearance in a World Cup, which was held at home. The tournament included only four teams and India finished last, without a win, behind champions Australia, England and New Zealand. None of the players managed to make an impact during the event.

The next World Cup, which was held in New Zealand in 1982, became the first one to get a sponsor, with Hansells Vita Fresh. It proved to be a much longer affair, with 31 games, and which in addition to the original four teams, included an International XI. In the same vein as their male compatriots, who struggle to cope with the Kiwi conditions at the start of each tour, the Indian women also suffered huge losses during the initial phase, before bouncing back with a few impressive victories, especially against the International XI. Fowzeih Khalili topped the batting charts, while Kulkarni grabbed 20 wickets. Australia were crowned champions again, and they turned it into a hat-trick by winning at home in the Shell Bicentennial World Cup in 1988, in which the Indian team didn’t participate.

The 1993 edition in England, which saw the hosts pip the Kiwis in the final at Lord’s, proved to be a more fruitful outing as the Indian women finished fourth amongst eight teams. Anju Jain averaged 65 with the bat and Diana Edulji took 14 wickets at the age of 37.
It was in 1997, when the World Cup returned to India and the first-ever 200 was witnessed in ODIs thanks to Belinda Clark, that Indian women’s cricket really started to take off. India reached the semi-finals for the first time in history, where they were narrowly beaten by eventual champions Australia. The final between the trans-Tasman rivals witnessed a crowd of 80,000 spectators at the Eden Gardens.

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