Women's cricket in India has come a long way
"You have come a long way, baby" ran the well known Virginia Slims ads some years ago
Partab Ramchand
20-Mar-2000
"You have come a long way, baby" ran the well known Virginia Slims ads
some years ago. Well, women's cricket in India has certainly come a
long way from the hesitant and uncertain beginnings in the early
seventies.
I well remember the early days of women's cricket in India. It was
1973 and I was a sports reporter with the Indian Express in Madras. A
cricketing friend of mine MK Mohan, who was good enough to represent
the State junior team, tipped me off that there were a few girls
having net sessions every morning at the Gandhinagar club, the team he
played for in the senior division league. A newsman's curiousity was
aroused and I dashed off one morning to see a rather novel
scene. Indeed, there were a few teenage girls batting, bowling and
fielding with Mohan present to give them a few valuable tips.
The first thing that attracted my attention was the keenness and
enthusiasm showed by the girls. This effervescent quality more than
made up for any obvious technical shortcomings. After all, they had
received no coaching at all and had taken to the game not for any
monetary rewards but in a spirit of adventure and eager to make
good. Also they must have gone against two of the traditional
obstacles to such pursuits - a male chauvanistic attitude and parental
objection. After all, they were the pioneers and had no one but their
woman counterparts in England and Australia to look to for
inspiration.
I remember some of the players very well - Sudha Shah and her sister
Meena Shah, Susan Itticheria, Fowziah Khaleeli, Sumathi Iyer. Within a
year or so, Sudha, Fowziah and Susan were representing India in the
early `Test' matches against Australia. By this time, the Women's
Cricket Association of India had been formed and had several state
associations affiliated to it and by the mid 70s, women's cricket in
India had taken off.
But it took considerable time for women's cricket to be accepted.
They received little support from their men counterparts who were
quick to term women taking to the game as ``a bad joke'' and other
condescending sentiments. For many years, the main grounds at the
major venues were off limits to the ladies. There was no question of
sponsorship and the players and the administrators had to run around
to obtain finance to conduct tournaments. Thus it took a long time for
women's cricket in India to be put on a firm footing.
But slowly over the years, recognition came the women's way. They
finally got persmission to play on grounds such as the Eden Gardens,
MAC stadium, Wankhede stadium and Feroz Shah Kotla. Sponsors were more
forthcoming and big time tournaments, including the World Cup, were
held in India. The standard too was improving with some of the leading
players running up records that stood the test of time while the
organisation was put on a sound footing thanks to the efforts of
selfless and dynamic administrators. Regular tours were organised to
and from India and by the 90s, women's cricket in India wore a much
healthier look.
While there was never any chance of any woman cricketer matching the
status or the adulation accorded to the leading men players, the top
players did get rewards directly associated with their performances on
the field - good jobs, a grudging recognition from their male
counterparts and even Arjuna awards. Shanta Rangaswamy, who was the
dominant figure for long in the pioneering days of women's cricket was
the first recipient of the Arjuna award and this was a tremendous
boost for the game. Shanta's feats did much to attract attention and
even the men started taking notice when the tall, well built woman, a
bank officer by profession, took the field. Over the years, Srirupa
Bose, Gargi Banerjee, Shubangi Kulkarni, Diana Eduljee, Sandhya
Agarwal and others helped women's cricket to gain in popularity. And
as we start the new millennium there is little doubt that women's
cricket in India is poised for a giant leap.