Dear Dad, next month she’ll watch. One day, she could play

It was 9:30 on Friday, the second of May, in our Sydney home when my phone buzzed. My seven-year-old immediately told me, quite firmly, to put it away. I told her I was waiting for something.

“They’re announcing the Indian women’s T20 World Cup squad,” I said. She considered this for a moment, then asked: “Is Shreyanka going to be there?” Born and growing up in Australia, she is more familiar with Australian cricketers. Ellyse Perry is her favourite. But she knew Shreyanka Patil because I had met Shreyanka in Sydney earlier this year during the T20I series, and because she plays for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) along with Perry. I told her yes. Shreyanka was in the squad.

Today, Shreyanka Patil is a Women’s Premier League (WPL) champion, a key part of India’s T20I setup, and one of the most exciting players in the women’s game.

But her path here was far from easy. There were years of grind, injuries that set her back, and a long wait for the recognition her talent deserved.

Her social media feed reflects the positivity and energy of a passionate cricketer. Something she posted recently caught my attention. A photo with her father, with the caption: “Love you Appa. My father is my Hero and my biggest supporter.” It made me reflect on how critical her father’s support must have been in her journey to get here.

Arjun Dev Nagendra is the founder of the New Innings Cricket Enterprise (NICE) academy in Bengaluru. As Shreyanka’s coach and manager, he has seen her through the highs and the lows and knows what separates those who make it to elite levels from those who don’t. He is clear about one thing: a father’s support is not a nice-to-have. It is often the difference. As he puts it, “Family support is so important for any young cricketer. And when the father shows up and actively supports his daughter, it becomes a critical factor in how far she can go. It sends a message that her dream is worth taking seriously. Shreyanka’s father was exactly that kind of support.”

Not every young girl is as fortunate as Shreyanka. According to a 2024 UNESCO report, globally, 49% of girls drop out of sport during adolescence, compared to just 8% of boys. Closer to home, a study by Indian academics from leading universities identified a lack of family support as one of the most critical barriers holding women back from sport in India. In most Indian households, the father is the key decision-maker. But it is not enough to simply say yes. Fathers who show up consistently, in the small everyday decisions, are the ones whose daughters persist, thrive, and go further than anyone expected.

Living in Australia, I have had the good fortune of seeing what active involvement looks like. Attending Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) matches has become an annual ritual, staying back so my daughter can meet the players and collect an autograph.

During the summer of 2024-25, we participated in the Daughters and Dads Cricket programme, developed by Prof Philip Morgan at the University of Newcastle, where fathers and daughters share nine weeks on the pitch, learning cricket and building confidence together. The cricket skills came. But the real win was watching her pick up the bat, get on the field, and grow in confidence.

The following season, she joined Woolworths Cricket Blast, Cricket Australia’s entry-level programme for children under ten. Through that, she got the chance to walk out onto the Sydney Cricket Ground during the lunch break of the Pink Test earlier this year. She may not have grasped how significant that moment was. She will, as she grows up. I will admit I’m a little selfish in hoping she picks cricket. But it is really not about cricket. It is about what sport does to a young girl: the resilience, the character, the confidence.

In a few weeks, Shreyanka Patil will be in England, representing India at the T20 World Cup. Growing up in North Karnataka in the 1990s, I could not have imagined how far women’s cricket in India would come. India are ODI World Champions. The WPL has transformed what is possible. Women and men cricketers get equal match fees. The crowds, the contracts, the coverage: it is extraordinary how much has changed.

But there is still so much more to be done. The next Shreyanka is already out there and needs her father to show up. She will come from a home where her father said yes, and kept saying yes. That is on us, dads. The squad heading to England next month had fathers who showed up. Soon, your daughter will watch the Women In Blue take on the world. One day, she could be one of them. The next step is yours. Hand her a bat and stand next to her while she holds it.

(The writer grew up in North Karnataka and now lives in Sydney, Australia. He is the author of My Summer of Cricket, a memoir chronicling thirty years as a cricket fanatic and the summer he spent following the Border-Gavaskar Trophy across Australia)