While the Indian national Men’s team plays the T20 WC in the USA and West Indies, their female counterparts are playing in a bilateral series at home against South Africa. From 16th-23rd June, the India-W team played a 3-match ODI series against the Proteas women. The Indian team won the series comfortably with Smriti Mandhana starring for India with two consecutive centuries followed by a score in the 90’s in the ODI series.
But with all eyeballs focussed on the Men’s team performances abroad, the Women’s team haven’t got the recognition they deserve. Up next, the India-W team will play a one-off test match against the South Africans at Chennai in the M Chidambaram stadium. The test match will start on Friday, July 28th, at 9.30 am.
And it looks like the BCCI or rather the TNCA (Tamil Nadu Cricket Association) is taking a few steps backwards. The State’s cricket association has announced free entry to all fans for the one-off test against South Africa. While this is not uncommon as it has happened many times before. But with the Bengaluru ODI leg not being free and the subsequent T20 leg against the Proteas not being free of cost as well, one must have thought that we were past that stage. But evidently, we are not.
This has been a topic of concern before as well. The one-off test against England last December and the following all-format series against the Aussies were a free-of-cost endeavour for the fans as well. The England coach has previously said on the topic that people buying tickets to watch the game means a great deal to the players. It talks about a far more important aspect too. That being the fact that being charged to watch women’s cricket would not only provide for a more dignified experience but also attach value to the Women’s game.
In the statement issued by TNCA, the fans will be given free access to the stadium for all 4 days of the test match. This move is set to also benefit the BCCI’s efforts to pull crowds for women’s cricket games in India. While yes, it would surely bring more eyeballs to the stadium. We shouldn’t forget that this is not the ideal situation for women’s cricket. But rather an easy way out of the situation. In no way does this bring any sort of funding or dignified recognition to women’s cricket. Moreover, during the England-India bilateral series last year, many incidents of mismanagement and unorganised crowd control were reported, largely due to a lack of security checks, maintenance and order.
Fans need to understand that this move is not a move towards the development of the game. But would rather fall into the “2 steps forward 3 steps back” category.
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