Mithali’s girls take shot at cricket Raj today

Rohit Mahajan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 22

There will be cricket at Lord’s tomorrow, and India will be playing — the other India, the women, playing the final of the women’s World Cup against England. Since the Indian women are in the final, this will most likely become the game with the highest viewership in the history of women’s cricket.

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The Indian team has the most prolific batswoman in women’s ODIs, captain Mithali Raj; it also has the most successful bowler in women’s ODIs, Jhulan Goswami; and it also has the woman who’s played probably the most explosive innings in the history of women’s cricket, Harmanpreet Kaur. India beat the three strongest teams in this competition — England, New Zealand and Australia — in less than four weeks.

Does all this make India the favourites to win the World Cup, for the first time ever? Not really, for England are playing at home, in familiar conditions, in front of home fans, and their team is more experienced woman-to-woman.

Charlotte Edwards, the former England captain, says that for women’s cricket to grow, India must do well in the sport. She is right, for India is the biggest market for cricket, and an Indian win could boost women’s cricket like nothing else.

And the time is right. For over 15 years, Mithali and Jhulan have been the two players who have propped up women’s cricket in India. Over the years, however, several very good players have come up — women such as Harmanpreet, Mansi Joshi, Veda Krishnamurthy, Smriti Mandhana, Shikha Pandey, Punam Raut and Deepti Sharma.

When the men’s team won the World Cup in 1983, the popularity of cricket sky-rocketed — kids who watched India win that year became legends of the sport, such as Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly.

A win by the Indian women tomorrow can be very important — it would be an important step towards removing patriarchal attitudes from Indian cricket, and Indian sport, and inspire girls to become national cricketers. Cricket can become a very realistic, well-paying career option for Indian girls.

Tomorrow, the stands at the Lord’s ground would be packed, a rarity in women’s cricket. Mithali is excited. “It will be a big achievement for the girls, each one of them is very lucky to be playing in a final at Lord’s,” she said today. “It is a dream of every cricketer to play at Lord’s because of the history, we have made an effort, we’ve reached there, and I hope the girls perform their best, as they have always done.”

If you are a fan who believes that cricket is a religion, you might want to watch the game and follow the scores because India would play for the World Cup today.