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SPORTS:
CRICKET
Meet
The Girls
Didn't
know the Women's Cricket World Cup was around the corner? The Indian team
heads off to New Zealand as one of the favourites for the event.
By
Sharda Ugra
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The
Team
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It
is the stuff of sob-story heaven: five-star hotels versus seven-bedded
dorms, the adoring throngs racked up against wisecracking chauvinists,
autographs and anonymity. The men get the millions, the Indian women's
cricket team gets a recumbent layabout treating them like eye-candy, asking,
"Madam, kaisi hain aap?"
That's hardly
an occupational hazard for the women but there are some that are and have
to be endured. A week before leaving for their World Cup, the team is
asked to cancel a practice match because "the boys need the grounds
for their nets". Yes, those boys, the ones with the adoring throng
and the telephone number salaries. It may be sob-story heaven, but nobody's
sobbing. These women don't whinge because there's work to do and a World
Cup to be won. Join the queue if you didn't know that was around the corner.
Women actually invented the World Cup in 1973, two years before the men
borrowed the idea.
The Indian
women go into the Cricinfo Women's World Cup in New Zealand (November
29 to December 23), knowing that if their sport has to corner a very tiny
portion of cricket's pie, only victory will do. Anything less and they
will still earn Rs 2,000 for a Test match and Rs 1,000 for a one-dayer.
This despite a five-year run in which they first snatched the three-nation
Centenary Trophy from hosts New Zealand and Australia, then beat Australia
at home, England home and away, and reached the semi-finals of the 1997
World Cup in India. "We know we need big wins to keep our sport in
the public eye," says coach Sudha Shah.
Currently,
defending World Cup champions Australia are the strongest team in the
world, with India, New Zealand and England lined up as equals. Sri Lanka,
Ireland, Netherlands and South Africa make up the World Cup field this
year. Captain Anju Jain remembers losing to the Aussies in the 1997 World
Cup semi-final. "All our hard work came to nothing. This time, we're
not going to let them go."
Rivalries
run deep and fester in the game because tours are a precious few. "It's
not a friendly game at all," says vice-captain and opener Anjum Chopra.
"Yahan bhaichaara kuch nahin hai (there is no solidarity here)."
Here the Aussies lead the world in sledging, and on tour, England complain
about the umpiring. So what is India-full of brilliant talents who cannot
gel as a team and are miserable tourists? Far from it. Former captain
Poornima Rau, who led the Indian women to the 1995 victory, has seen the
squad change. "Previously the Indians were known for their individual
players, now we are considered a dangerous team. The girls have improved
greatly."
For the
first time, the team is travelling with a physiotherapist, C. Sudhakar,
who works with the Andhra Ranji Trophy squad. The final stage of their
preparation has included matches against boys under-16 and under-19 teams.
They lost the first few games and were encouragingly patted on the head
before, to the utter horror of the opposition, they started winning. Out
went the encouragement and in came the bouncers and the combined force
of eleven injured male egos trying to hustle two women in the middle.
Jain, who copped her share of intimidation, chuckles, "We never got
hit though. Our technique is too good."
Women's
Cricket Association of India (WCAI) Secretary Anuradha Dutt brought good
news to the final nets: their sport had been upgraded from a 'C' category
sport to a 'B' category by the sports ministry, making it eligible for
government funding. "Ideally we would like to follow Australia, New
Zealand and England and merge with the men's board. It would do our finances
a world of good," says Dutt. There is no unanimity inside the WCAI
on the issue when older members equate merger with a loss of power.
What else
would they like from the men's game? Raw power for one, to hit behemoth
sixes and bowl faster. Then there's the cash to get some regular tournaments
and tours going, and finally recognition that their labour is intense
and worthy and honest. In 1998, the first Australian Wisden Cricketer
of the Year award went to the national women's team star bat Belinda Clark
and across the Tasman, Debbie Hockley was named New Zealand's Cricketer
of Year. That kind of recognition.
And what
would they most certainly not want from the big boys? It's a no-brainer.
Anjum Chopra's smile is cheekiness itself. "Match-fixing," she
says.
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