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Shame on us for not making Indian women's cricket win a big deal

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Debdutta Bhattacharjee
Debdutta BhattacharjeeJul 09, 2015 | 15:33

Shame on us for not making Indian women's cricket win a big deal

Hurray, Team India has done it!

It has won a tough one day international (ODI) series against the formidable New Zealand. Which series, what victory, you ask? The average Indian cricket fan may not know, or indeed may not have bothered to learn that the women's cricket team of the country has just beaten former world champions New Zealand 3-2 in a hotly contested series. But do the people of the country even care? How many of us would stand in serpentine queues to get the autograph of a Jhulan Goswami for instance; how many of us would swoon as a Mithali Raj passes by; how many of us are interested to know if any of our women cricketers go out with a Bollywood hero?

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This really has been the fate of the women cricketers of India, whose achievements have gone largely unrecognised in spite of commendable performances over the years. Even the media have been lukewarm and the achievements of Jhulan, Mithali, Neetu David and their team have been wrapped up mostly in a couple of paragraphs in the backpage of a newspaper, while even the debacles of the men's team get frontpage coverage. In an interview to ESPNcricinfo a few years back, Diana Edulji, the former skipper of the Indian women's side spoke at length on the factors ailing the women's game.

But for a country which thrives on cricket, this step-motherly treatment of women's cricket just does not add up. This is why we must change our outlook:

Mithali Raj's remarkable feat: Can anybody be not proud of the Indian skipper? No we are not talking about MS Dhoni, but Mithali Raj, who completed 5,000 runs in ODIs against the White Ferns in the just-concluded series. How can her achivement be of any lesser value than those of a Dhoni or a Kohli reaching major milestones. The problem is that we often make the fundamental mistake of looking at women's cricket through the lens of the men's game and invariably, the former seems bland and pedestrian in front of the latter. Women's cricket may fail to generate the same adrenaline rush as the men's game, for there may not be that sixer that clears the stadium or that yorker that shatters the stumps, but you need to see women's cricket for what it is and appreciate it for what it is. Some of the shots that Mithali played during her match-winning innings in the fourth ODI versus New Zealand were a joy to behold and a firm statement that women cricketers were no pushovers.

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Stellar performances: The Indian eves have done the country proud in Test cricket, having won against the likes of England and South Africa. They had stunned England on the latter's home turf last year, while their male counterparts came a cropper against the English. The eves had also finished runners up in World Cup, 2005 and done exceedingly well in Asia Cups.

Going ga-ga over Sania, but why not Mithali: Is it taken for granted in India that women are not suited for cricket? If it is, there cannot be a greater misnomer. Women have done well in sports like lawn tennis and football, which demand a lot of a player physically. How is it that the same Indian crowd which shouts itself hoarse as Sania Mirza dazzles with her serve and volley can stay so brusque at the achievements of Mithali Raj and company?

We can no longer ignore them: In spite of this coldness of the public and indeed the cricket authorities, the women cricketers have quietly gone about their business and have forced us to take notice. They have not had the best training facilities and indeed exposure. The Board of Control for Cricket India has not been too keen to put even a small proportion of its huge riches to develop women's cricket in the country and the Rs 21 lakh it has awarded to the women's team after their recent victory is something that Mithali and company deserves.

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The Indian women team's victory against New Zealand and Mithali's landmark feat perhaps gives the opportunity now to revise our outlook and it is time that women cricketers in India get their due recognition.

Last updated: July 11, 2015 | 21:47
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