An all girls cricket team in India breaks with tradition

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
"More than a dozen young girls from a small village cycle through farmland in the Indian state of Punjab.

Moving along a dirt pathway, dressed all in white, their excitement starts to build. Amid the miles of wheat fields, emerges the source of their joy: two cricket pitches, with plastic wickets and strip of concrete from where they can bat.

If it conjures images of the 1989 Hollywood film, Field of Dreams, it wouldn't be too far from the truth. These 18 girls make up the Gulab Singh Cricket Team.

Cricket is the most popular sport in India, akin to a religion many would say. While it continues to remain a male-dominated game, things are changing.

Earlier this year, India started a women's cricket premier league (WPL), a female version of the Indian Premier League (IPL). It has quickly become one of the world's most lucrative women's franchises, second only to the Women's National Basketball Associate in the US."...