Why is it the best time for girls to join cricket

Women’s cricket is not new to India. It goes back as far as four decades and more. Indian women made their first test debut in 1976, with the first ODI debut in 1978. We have had outstanding women cricketers such as Diana Eduljee and Shanta Rangaswamy, who are fondly remembered in the annals of cricket.

Although cricket has done far better as a spectator sport, with male cricketers being hero-worshiped as public icons, women’s cricket has mostly drawn a huge yawn. Our women have had to play to empty stadia, with the best of them going unrecognized. And the situation was not confined to India. Even in England, the home of cricket, “there were never more than a couple of hundred people watching” the inaugural women’s World Cup back in 1973, to quote ex-cricketer Lynn Thomas.

At the moment, hardly any schools have girls’ cricket teams. In spite of cricket academies mushrooming in many cities, girls are often never accepted for coaching. Even where they are accepted, toilets and suitable changing rooms are lacking. Or else, these academies –for the lack of open space, are set up on the outskirts of cities, making it difficult or unsafe for girls to commute alone. 

If this gives the impression that women’s cricket is less competitive, or that there’s no such thing as sledging in the women’s game, both notions can be shot down pretty quickly. Women’s cricket at the elite level is as fierce as any sporting contest. And sledging, even in the harshest sense of the word, does exist in women’s cricket to a degree, as does gamesmanship.

“Our values differ to the men’s,” said Australia’s, Ashleigh Gardner shortly after winning the 2018 World T20 final. “We wanted to change them to something that really fit our group and we could agree to live by.”

Professionalism is now changing that. The undertones of reverence for one’s elders, and the sense of hierarchy often seen in subcontinental sporting teams, remains, for better or worse. But the more established players of today seem to be rising past that and developing an awareness of the bigger picture. 

Gone are the days, when women’s cricket was considered to be futile, when readership and viewership of their matches were abysmally low, when Board’s assistance was a sole indicator of their success, when broadcasters were reluctant to telecast matches and when they struggled to stamp their authority in a male-dominated game.

Lots and lots had changed, offlate. ICC’s decision to broadcast and live-stream ODI WC’17 across 139 countries to grow global interest in women’s cricket.

ICC also doubled the prize pool to $2 Million for ODI World Cup 2017 by dedicating the move to a step towards parity with men’s cricket.

The appointment of PepsiCo Chairwoman & CEO Indra Nooyi as ICC’s independent female director.

The introduction of ICC Women’s Championship in 2017 and an award for the Best Women’s Cricket Initiative of the Year.

Apart from International Initiatives across the globe, BCCI have also made numerous promises to these young Indian Eves; major steps include : BCCI has expanded its upcoming domestic season for women by introducing a T20 and a one-day tournament just before the Women’s T20 World Cup in West Indies for senior as well as U-23 players. More India-A tours . Hike in Pay for Cricketers – Domestic as well as International. They have promised a separate committee for women at BCCI with women delegate and couple of exhibition matches during Men’s IPL.

A nerveless England had triumphed over mighty India in one of the most dramatic women’s matches ever played to memorably claim the 2017 World Cup. The euphoria and sheer noise emanating from the sell-out crowd was another indelible moment in the iconic ground’s lore. 

It felt like a major breakthrough for women’s cricket. This was a landmark match for the women’s game, which had made encouraging strides in recent years. Television ratings for the tournament were astronomical.

Recently, Isa Guha who is a former England cricketer who has played the 2005 and 2009 World Cup. She started playing cricket since the age of 8 and was selected for the English side while she was 13. She currently is a cricket commentator, television and radio cricket broadcaster. Lately, when she was in a conversation with Mel Jones discussing the upcoming ICC Women’s T20 World Cup she said that she is impressed with the rising quality of women’s cricket.

When she was asked about looking forward to the most in the upcoming T20 World Cup, Guha replied, “Just the skill-levels, I think. Because the WBBL has gone to another level and the skills of people have gone to another level.”

“The one thing I love about watching women’s cricket is that the players I used to play against, like Ellyse Perry, Alyssa Healy… just love seeing how they have gone to this unbelievable level of cricket, which I just didn’t think was possible. It has given me the most joy to see how they have developed,” she added.

Like many other sports, women’s cricket has been overshadowed by its male counterparts but momentum has grown in recent years. And that’s why I think it is the best time for girls to join cricket.

“The way (the game) has grown, it’s been so fast, you have to pinch yourself to see how quickly it’s grown,” Dane van Niekerk.

Amidst all the challenges and hardships women’s cricket and cricketers are going through, I would urge people to support the beautiful game of cricket and help youngsters to live up to their dream. Spectators should throng the stadiums just like they do it for a men’s match. Let the players enjoy the backing of spectators; maybe one day they would rise to the occasion and give their followers the kind of thrilling battles they won’t have imagined of. 

The Virat Kohli decade

In India, cricket is not like any other sport. You must experience it to know it. This isn’t hyperbole. Some people do base their lives on the sport. And not many can handle the burden of carrying this nation’s hope and still perform.

Kohli’s love for the game started from a very young age. When students changed schools for better education, he changed cricket academies for better coaching. He gradually progressed through the ranks and started establishing himself at the domestic level.

Kohli’s transformation from boy to man, though, occurred overnight. On December 18, 2006, Kohli (18) was part of the team playing for Delhi against Karnataka. But the unimaginable happened that night. His father passed away. Cricket should have become secondary to his grief, but Kohli played on. He continued from his overnight score of 40*, scored 90 from 238 balls and helped save Delhi from defeat. All this on the day of his father’s funeral.

He improved his game and fitness at an exponential rate. He would go on to master the art of chasing. He once mauled Lasith Malinga, scoring 24 runs in an over, before going on to script a famous victory for India at Hobart. A few hundreds here and there, artistic batting, unreal dedication, ruthless aggression all became Kohli’s identity. The metamorphosis into what he is today slowly surfaced. Kohli is always beautiful to watch when he bats; he has good posture, he leans into his drives, he times his shots very well and seems to know exactly which shot to play to every ball.

If people had any doubts about Kohli’s test supremacy, he answered it to a great extent during the Australia Tour in 2014/15. The first test at Adelaide, was a not a normal test. Phillip Hughes, tragically passed away, doing what he loves, batting, days before the test. The entire sporting world was moved. Grown, hard men were crying. Cricket was looked at differently. It was not normal scenes at Adelaide. Kohli, however had a brilliant test series. A Mitchell Johnson bouncer hit his helmet. It didn’t do much damage to Kohli. But the same can’t be said for the Australians. It made the beast in him soar high. Some of his cover drives were a thing of beauty. The MCG and SCG tests were no different. He was indomitable.

For a nation of more than a billion cricket lovers, who have grown up watching the game with great gusto, we have, inadvertently, shown a lop-sided interest towards batsmen. Not going through the pain of listing them all down here, as we have had many of them, who have dominated our cricketing conscience so far and continue to do so.

Virat Kohli has added a new dimension to that consciousness, he has used his high-levels of fitness to bolster his temperament, talent, and performance and in the process, has changed the way cricket is played in India or in the sub-continent for that matter.

While he ticks all the boxes for a typical Indian batting great technique-wise, he also has quite remarkably managed to infuse the ‘fitness’ angle into his game, which was not adequately stressed upon by the cricketers of the previous era, especially the sub-continent cricketers. Today, Virat Kohli epitomizes almost all those qualities that we generally associate with a high-performance athlete. Talent, passion, aggressive intent and, above all, fitness are the four pillars on which his game firmly rests.

His form since 2015 has been legendary. WC 2015 Innings vs Pakistan was a testimony to that. His T20 WC was a lesson to all the grooming youngsters. A mind-boggling 973 runs under his belt, with 4 centuries helped Kohli cement his place as a modern-day great.

IPL-2016 was his playground. He owned the stage. He reached the zenith of his career. He took us with him. We danced when he won. We cried when he lost. We slept peacefully when he was working out strategies and ideas for next day’s game. Every tour hence has only further established his supremacy.

Life begins at 30 for a cricketer. He will have his fair share of ups and downs. Hopefully there are more ups than downs. His supreme fitness will be tested. His leadership qualities will be doubted. Injuries will take a toll on his form. But this bloke is a phoenix. He laughs at adversaries. He revels in tough situations.

Virat Kohli is an amazingly skilled batsman, he has quite exceptionally so far capitalized on his batting abilities and has managed to single-handedly win matches for India. His knack for timing the ball and placing them through the gaps is quite remarkable, those sumptuous drives through the covers almost invariably past the fielders are a feast to the eyes, for most cricket-buffs. Kohli stands rigid with an air of solidity, but his stance allows a comfortable swing of the arms through the line of the ball – in a manner that is not so easy for other top-class batsmen.

If Virat Kohli is a brilliant role model for young Indian athletes on the virtues of being physically fit and in peak condition, he is perhaps an even greater example of how you need oodles of mental fortitude to succeed in the highest level of the game. India’s ICC World T20 2016 match against Australia, where Virat Kohli anchored an incredible run-chase to get the last 39 runs off just 2.1 overs, was a perfect example of how Kohli’s immense mental strength comes to the fore when India are under huge pressure and need an injection of world-class quality to save them from a defeat.

The amount of cricket that is being played today is frenetic. Cricketers are increasingly complaining about tight schedules and excessive workload, which is taking a toll on their desire to performance consistently, but not quite for Virat Kohli: he plays all the three formats for India and does it with equal aplomb.

To step on to the field, each and every time with an equal amount of intensity and hunger to perform is what makes Virat Kohli a cut above the rest.

The Virat Kohli Decade

2011 – 2011 can be termed as a special year for Virat Kohli. For a young man who was yet to turn 23, became a World Cup winner. He scored 282 runs in the tournament and scored a ton in the opening game. He also scored a crucial 35 in the final against Sri Lanka. He amassed more than 1300 ODI runs which included four hundreds and eight fifties in 2011.

2012 – In 2012, Kohli showed that he has the ability to do well in Test cricket as well. He scored three hundreds and averaged close to 50 that year in Tests. On a disastrous tour to Australia in 2011-12, Virat Kohli just came into his own. He struck his maiden Test hundred at Adelaide. He struck five hundreds that year in ODI cricket. Two of them stood out. 133 against Sri Lanka when India had to chase down 320 in 40 overs and 183 against Pakistan in the Asia Cup.

2013 – Virat Kohli stamped his authority as the chase master. For the third consecutive year, he scored more than 1000 runs in ODI cricket. He scored an important 43 in the final of the Champions Trophy. In Test cricket, he scored a ton against Australia at home and also made some small contributions on rank turners.

2014 – 2014 saw the transformation of Virat Kohli. He saw the extreme ends of the game where he just couldn’t score anything in England to scoring heavily in Australia. Barring that entire tour of England, Kohli had a decent year. He almost single-handedly won the World T20 for India. He was the Man of the Series in that World T20. He made his captaincy debut in the first Test in MS Dhoni’s absence. He struck twin centuries and almost took India home in that first Test.

2015 – In 2015, he took over as full-time Test captain after MS Dhoni announced his retirement mid-way through the four-match Test series in Australia. He did score a couple of hundreds but overall, Kohli didn’t have a great 2015 as a batsman.

2016 – In 2016, Kohli was back to his normal self, scoring out runs and hundreds at will. He scaled some unbelievable peaks in T20 cricket. He scored a staggering 973 runs in the IPL which included 4 hundreds. He scored three double tons in Test cricket in a year where he scaled 1000 runs in a year for the first time in his Test career. He averaged more than 75 in every format in 2016.

2017 – Kohli was handed the captaincy in all formats after MS Dhoni stepped down before the first series in 2017. He led from the front and kept scoring runs. He scored 12 international tons in 2017 and his consistency continued. The one thing that didn’t go Kohli’s way was the Champions Trophy loss. It took him quite a time to move on from that loss.

2018 – 2018 saw Virat Kohli be the one-man army, especially in Test cricket. In South Africa and England, he has carried the Indian batting line-up alone and has been India’s best batsman in ODI cricket as well. (Reference – Broken Cricket)

2019 – More than 11 years have passed since Virat Kohli made his debut in international cricket. Since then, every series that Kohli has played has been a step forward in his career; his undying passion and dedication towards the game have taken him to several new heights. 2019 has been an average year as of Virat Kohli standards. Became the fastest to 20,000 international runs. Scored most hundreds while chasing. Scored most ODI hundreds in a winning cause.

Virat Kohli’s rise from a stylish, promising young batsman into one of India’s greatest of all time has been an absolute joy to witness. At the age of 31, Kohli is already the proud holder of several records in the cricket books. His everlasting desire to keep improving his game every time he steps out to the field has helped him remain at the top of his game for so many years and it shall continue.

ICC Championship Match : Pakistan vs England Preview

The England women’s cricket team are currently playing the Pakistan Women’s cricket team in Malaysia in December 2019. The tour consists of three Women’s one day internationals which form part of the 2017-2020 ICC Women’s Championship, and three Women’s Twenty20 Internationals.

All of the matches are being played at the Kinrara Oval in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Flanked by a mosque on one side and the highway on the other, the picturesque Kinrara Oval is a welcome addition to the many venues that dot modern-day cricket’s landscape. 

Pakistan have played England eight times previously in WODI matches, without recording a single win.

The first WODI match between England and Pakistan will be played on 9th December, 2019.

Pakistan Women’s Cricket Team

Former captain Sana Mir, who took a break from international cricket last week, is one of four exclusions from the ODI squad that played Bangladesh last month, along with Iram Javed, Sadia Iqbal and Kaynat Imtiaz.

2019, in comparison has been a virtuous year for Pakistan, who have won four and tied on game out of eight played they played. They managed to tie the away series against South Africa, too. This series against England provides them with a chance to, if they win, qualify directly to the ICC Women’s World Cup, 2021.

Urooj Mumtaz, chair of the women’s selection committee, is confident that the squads will be able to continue Pakistan’s successful showing against Bangladesh, where they won the T20Is 3-0 and levelled the ODI series 1-1.

“The two squads have been put together after considering recent performances in international and domestic events,” she was quoted as saying by a press release. “A series against a quality side like England always brings challenges and we have put together these combinations keeping that in mind.

ODI squad: Bismah Maroof (c), Aliya Riaz, Anam Amin, Aroob Shah, Diana Baig, Fatima Sana, Javeria Khan, Kaynat Hafeez, Nahida Khan, Nashra Sandhu, Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Rameen Shamim, Sidra Amin, Sidra Nawaz

England Women’s Cricket Team

England Women have confirmed their squad for their December tour of Malaysia, where they’ll play Pakistan in three ODIs and three IT20s.

There is a first call-up for Worcestershire leg-spinner Sarah Glenn, who impressed in last season’s Kia Super League for Loughborough Lightning, while youngster Mady Villiers retains her place from the summer. Sussex seamer Freya Davies returns to the group.

England captain Heather Knight said: “We’re looking forward to getting out there and getting back to international cricket.

“It’s been a few months since our last game and there’s been a fair bit of change in that time so this tour is an opportunity to start a new era and move forward. There’s a few younger faces in the group but also a lot of proven talent. I’m really happy with the group and we can’t wait for the next few months.”

ODI squad: Heather Knight, Tammy Beaumont, Katherine Brunt, Kate Cross, Freya Davies, Sophie Ecclestone, Sarah Glenn, Kirstie Gordon, Amy Jones, Nat Sciver, Anya Shrubsole, Mady Villiers, Fran Wilson, Lauren Winfield, Daniell Wyatt.

Can Pakistan nick up their first win over England in the ODIs? Can England put the Ashes fiasco, where they were whitewashed in the ODIs at home behind them and give it a kick all over again?