Four games into his new role as the UP Warriorz head coach, Abhishek Nayar is still making sense of things. Asked about his new experience of coaching a women's team, he paused for a moment, unsure about whether he should be honest, or diplomatic. In the end he chose one of the two lines, or perhaps something in between, and said, "I'm wrapping my head around it.

"A lot of coaches that I spoke to before taking up this job told me, 'Listen, be direct.' In men's cricket sometimes, because you worked with them for a long time, there is that trust. So, you say a certain thing; if you say, 'Listen, go over covers', they will know which ball to do it to, how to do it. In women's cricket, the attention to detail is a little more."

A bit cautiously, mindful of the words he was uttering, he continued, "Sometimes you need to sort of break it down in a lot of ways and it's not as obvious as you think it is. Sometimes you just think it's going to happen, it doesn't. So, I feel it's a more hands-on job. I'm also teaching myself every day that, 'Listen Abhishek, open your mouth, talk.' Sometimes you have to do it and they're so receptive to it, it's amazing."

It wasn't clear whether Nayar was pointing to a specific instance or offering a general statement, but it's interesting that his experience has come while leading a team that has fielded a line-up of all internationals (Shweta Sehrawat excepted), several of whom have even won World Cups.

It's understandable that for someone who has had to switch roles between men's and women's cricket, the difference would be stark. But Nayar's experience has been wide ranging. He has spent time with the international men's team, an IPL side, spent over two decades being part of Mumbai cricket, and was also involved in a newly-developing cricket setup in Puducherry. He has mentored players like Angkrish Raghuvanshi from his pre-teens, to experienced cricketers like KL Rahul and Dinesh Karthik midway through their international careers.

So for someone with Nayar's experience to be taken aback by this novelty is a bit surprising, but also equally reflective of a larger gulf in the cricketing pathways for men and women.

What surprises Nayar about the 'when' and 'how' of the 'go over covers' instruction is a reflection of the absence of quality game time (and possibly even the standard of coaching) through the entire length of the pathway for women - starting from school cricket. While boys aspiring to be professional cricketers would get opportunities to play cricket year-round, girls cricket is limited to one or two tournaments in a year - if at all. Even those girls who are part of district-level cricket in most states in India could play just 10-12 competitive matches a year.

The core issue of lack of game time stems from culture reasons - having more club cricket in non-metro cities is a nice idea, but how many families are willing to allow their daughters to pursue the sport competitively?

For all the growing popularity of women's cricket, even outside the stigma of indulging in an 'un-womanly' activity, the social factors that dissuade young girls from participating in sports at the grassroots are plenty. In a country where the fairness cream market is estimated to be INR 5000 crore, skin tanning is still a massive detriment to marriage prospects. Moreover, the time that young women are expected to spend at home is a significant factor. In household chores, on average, Indian women spend more than 300 minutes daily (almost 10 times that of men).

The lack of participation leads to lack of matches as well as competition for the talented cricketers who are allowed to fully participate. With this dynamic, it's no surprise that standout talents get sucked into higher levels - including the national team - at young ages. Of the 11 players who took the field for India in the World Cup final last year, six made their international debut by the age of 17. In fact, if you take the average age at which they made their debuts, it is barely higher than the average age of the XI who took the field for India Men in their Under-19 World Cup match against the USA.

In India, talented women cricketers are identified early and elevated to the higher levels in a short span. So it's often at the international or the WPL level where their learnings happen, whereas for men this takes place at the domestic, school and club levels.

This is also true of the mistakes. Hence, while they are still in their learning phase, women players end up lacking the cricket smarts of their male counterparts playing at a similar level, but get to show this on live television, in front of packed audiences while representing their countries or WPL franchises.

They often end up making the kind of mistakes which may seem amateurish for those whose understanding of cricket standards has come purely from observing able-bodied men with clear vision.

For Nayar, this experience is a new learning. He admitted that the early days as the coach of a women's team has not been easy, but there is a silver lining: the players are willing to learn.

"In men's cricket, you have to be very [mindful of] what you are saying, what you are not saying. In women's cricket, they're very receptive. So you can actually talk to them, you can get into those details. But trust takes time and I'm working around that.

"When Harleen [incident of retired out] and these things happen and things come out, it becomes harder for me. [This role] is different, it's fun, it's challenging, it's testing me in every which way and sort of preparing me for the IPL also in a different way, but I would say it's not been easy."