Women’s sports have come a long way, yet they continue to be overshadowed by their male counterparts across almost every major sport. Cricket is no exception. This imbalance was reflected at NYU Abu Dhabi as well. The women’s cricket team was only formed in 2022, and remained unofficial until spring 2024. What started as a small initiative led by students like founding member Sadaf Habib, current captain Rishika Panda, together with the guidance of coach Farzhan Khan, slowly grew into a committed sports community.

By spring 2025, the team had played and won its first intercollegiate match. They also took their first official team photo, which is now proudly displayed on the gym wall. Their stories and experiences reveal the vision and perseverance that shaped the team, the significance of earning official recognition, and what this moment means for the future of women’s cricket at NYUAD.

The women’s cricket team began in 2022, when students who loved the sport finally had the chance to bring it onto the field at NYUAD. For many, it offered a first opportunity to play cricket in a structured setting rather than simply watch it from afar.

“When I came to NYUAD, there wasn't a women's cricket team at all,” Sadaf recalled. Realizing there was only a men’s team pushed her to act. “I thought of starting one because I love the sport and I knew a lot of people that wanted a similar platform… but it was not easy. I had to navigate a lot of skepticism … Are you going to get enough players? Are you going to get enough interest? But I still wanted to give it a shot.” Rishika described how surprising the idea of having a team felt at the time. “Even something as normal as having a women's cricket team was something very surprising and inspiring for us when in the first place, it should have been normal to do it.”

Coach Khan also emphasized the importance of creating such a women-inclusive space at NYUAD. “We’ve grown up having access to a sport that women typically don't have access to… it is our responsibility to make sure that we create that space over here,” she remarked.

Becoming an official team in spring 2024 marked a major shift for the women’s cricket team. Before that point, the team spent many years working towards fulfilling the requirements for recognition. Being designated as a university sports team then paved the way for long-awaited moments like their first intercollegiate match, and their first official team photo, while marking a shift in how the team saw itself.

Coach Khan reflected on the challenges of those early years before recognition. “The problem with sort of being recognised as an intercollegiate team is… you need to have two practises a week and you need to play games against other universities,” explained Coach Khan. “We didn't have other universities to play against… so we wouldn't be able to get people disciplined enough to come to practice multiple times a week.”

Those challenges, however, became opportunities for growth. “We wanted to get to a stage where we actually could do that [go to Athletics and ask for recognition]… and I think it just naturally built up to a point where everyone felt like, okay, we can be honest with ourselves… now we're finally putting in the amount of work,” he reflected.

Recognition brought with it both validation and visibility. “It [recognition through taking the team photo] really meant a lot to them, because it's almost like you're suddenly … taken seriously. And you're recognised,” Coach Khan acknowledged.

The impact on the players themselves was immediate. “It has given me a lot of confidence. I can speak up with more confidence now because I know we are fully recognised… this has given us a lot of strength in that way that we are able to ask for something that is given to other sports without asking,” Sadaf remarked.

For some, the moment went beyond confidence — it was about the larger story of women in cricket. Rishika reflected on this generational significance: “Most of us might not end up playing the World Cup,” she commented, “but we'll end up walking with great stories… that women belong in cricket as much as men do… This is more than just sports for all of us, in a way, like, we are really trying to help this generational gap of making everybody understand that sports are equally played by women.”

And then came the moments that made the hard work visible to everyone. Coach Khan shared his proudest memory, “So my proudest moment was probably when they played their first competitive game. So our guys and girls teams went down to American University Sharjah last semester. And after the girls won all three of the first games that they played, they got a guard of honour from the guys as they went on to the team. And in that moment, that was a proud moment for me, because it was like, okay, we've sort of built a bigger programme. Even beyond the two teams.”

As the women’s cricket team looks ahead, their purpose extends beyond the boundaries of the pitch. What began as an effort to create space for women in a sport they loved has evolved into a push to reshape how the NYUAD campus sees cricket and who feels invited to play it. For the team, the future is not only about competition but also about widening the circle and making the game accessible to anyone willing to show up and try.

“I think [for] cricket in general, I would want them [NYUAD students] to know that this is more than a sport played just by South Asians… Because NYUAD is such a diverse place, we want them to know, everybody's welcome here, and we'd love to teach you,” said Rishika.

“It [Cricket] was not known to other communities. But now, we have people from other communities joining us. And we are very, very inclusive in that sense. And we try to make sure that everybody feels welcome. Everybody has their own voice over there, their own opinions,” commented Sadaf, “So I would like to just say that we as a sport, as a community, are very inclusive.”

The rise of NYUAD’s women’s cricket team is more than just a story about a sport, it’s a testament to the power of initiative, determination, and community. What started as a small effort has become a team that continues to challenge gender-based assumptions about who belongs on the field. As the team grows, it offers a space where students can learn from scratch, step outside their comfort zone, and join a group built on support rather than expectation. It invites people who may never have imagined themselves playing cricket to try something new, discover strength in unfamiliar places, and become part of a community that actively wants them there.