Indian women’s cricket team needs nurturing too
The cricket calendar of the Indian men’s team is packed till next year’s T20 World Cup in November. After the tour of Australia, the team will welcome England. Then it will go to the UK. After coming back, it will look to win in the sport’s shortest format in its own backyard.
Considering that the 2021 edition of the IPL is sandwiched in the middle of all this, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has to be lauded for ensuring the men’s team’s blue-riband assignments have, by and large, remained unaffected even during the pandemic. Even the men’s domestic season has been announced and Indian cricket board has shown intent to complete all fixtures involving men.
But—there is always a but in this context—questions ought to be asked as to why the BCCI couldn’t arrange similar international tours for the women’s side. Sure, members of the national team did play their part in a week-long bash in the UAE last month, but in the long run, those kinds of matches seem glorified exhibitions. You need continuity at the highest level, and the only way of ensuring that is to play matches against elite international opposition.
The last ODI series Harmanpreet Kaur & Co. played was in November 2019. The last time the women’s team played limited overs internationals was the T20 World Cup in Australia in March 2020. Since the time it played an international match, Pakistan, England, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia have all played ODIs. Amid the pandemic, Australia and New Zealand have already played a series. Pakistan and South Africa are going to play one early next year.
The India team? As it stands, their next confirmed outing is going to be the World Cup in 2022. It’s not a good look that the world’s richest cricketing body is unable to arrange an international series for the women, especially when the players have shown they can mix and match with the best, reaching the World Cup finals in both formats. With exciting players coming up—Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues and Smriti Mandhana to name a few—the BCCI would do well to start treating both the teams equally. Otherwise, the new-found groundswell of support and interest surrounding the women’s team may disappear again.