The Indian Premier League since its inception in the year 2008, has changed cricket for the country on and off the field. India has been crazy about the sport even before the inception of the league, but its introduction created new opportunity for a lot of aspiring cricketers.

With the IPL, newer male players get a chance to showcase their skill at a world stage along with international players and hopefully secure a spot at the national level. Also, the commercial value of the league has now allowed male players to make a lucrative career from being a cricketer.

But this new opportunity in the sport does not apply to the women's game. The IPL doesn't include women. And this leaves their game grappling for exposure and commercial value. The opportunity for women, in a sport that the nation almost considers a religion, remains to be dismal.

Royal Challenge partners with 3 of India’s hugely accomplished women cricketers Mitali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur and Veda Krishnamurthy along with the world’s most followed cricketer Virat Kohli.

The idea calls out to cricket fans across India to pledge to watch the first ever mixed gender cricket game and initiate this game-changing shift in the culture of the sport in the country.

For a brand that wants to be known for its bold nature and its ability to take on culture shaping challenges, this was just the challenge to accept. For the society this means an even playing field for all cricketers. For the brand it meant being loved equally by men and women.

In the recent past, Women’s Cricket has slowly found new impetus at the World Stage. The 2017 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup was given the widest ever broadcast of over 200 regions, and even enjoyed a 47% increase in TV viewership in India as compared to the tournaments 2013 edition. The Indian’s Women’s Cricket team played a phenomenal game to reach the WC finals in England, and the sport found its new poster girls in captain Mithali Raj & Harmanpreet Kaur.

But even with these achievements, The Indian Premier League, the biggest cricket league extravaganza in the world, with the largest viewership, continues to cater to only male cricketers. The league is exclusive to male cricketers, gives them the exposure, the commercial value and a lot of young players the chance to gain valuable experience that is useful to play ahead at an international level.

The exclusion of women from the league keeps their game at the fringes. And this lack of visibility of their game, only continues to reinforce misconceptions that are purely based on persistent stereotypes of gendered expectations.

Within the first week of its launch, the campaign has over 100000 cricket fans across the nation pledging to watch a mixed gender game and eventually within a period of 30 days we crossed 1million pledges and are still counting.

With over 71 million social impressions and over 300% growth in the brand’s social community, the campaign successfully continues to both provoke and inspire. Many cricket fans and experts have contributed with their perspective to equality for women’s cricket in the country. The campaign has managed to capture the attention of international sports journalists in the likes of BBC Sport and also bring in reactions of women cricketers from across the borders. The campaign enjoys a 91% positive sentiment towards the mixed gender match and the initiative to give the women’s game its much deserved limelight.