Lucknow, Nov 20,2022: The Lucknow University (LU) has formed a women’s cricket team, the first in its 102-year history.

The women’s team will be debuting at the Inter-University North Zone Cricket Tournament to be held on November 25.

The day coincides with the LU’s foundation day.

The team aims to win their debut 20-20 match against Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University, Faizabad, and bring the trophy home.

LU spokesperson Durgesh Srivastava said: “In the past, LU had made several attempts to form a women’s cricket team but there were not enough girls who came ahead to participate in the sports. At times even when the girls came forward, a number of them could not qualify for the trials.”

Interestingly, Lucknow happens to be the cradle of women’s cricket in India.

With the efforts of Mahendra Kumar Sharma, the cricket administrator from Lucknow who passed away earlier this month, the Women’s Cricket Association of India (WCAI) was registered under the Societies Act in Lucknow in 1973.

The move opened the floodgates for women’s cricket in the country.

WCAI remained in existence for the next 32 years until BCCI took over the operations of women’s cricket in India in 2006.

Sharma is remembered by locals for taking to the streets of Lucknow, announcing over the microphone about the women’s cricket matches and inviting people to come over and watch them.

Lucknow University Athletic Association chairman, Prof Rupesh Kumar said: “Around 30 students from LU and affiliated colleges registered to be part of the team. Of these, 23 girl students were selected for the camp. Thereafter, several trials were conducted and then we finalized our team of 16 along with two reserve players.”

He said the LU team will be competing against 43 teams participating in the tournament that begins on November 25 and will end on December 5.