Dear Readers,
The Indian women’s cricket team's victory on Sunday gladdened many hearts for more reasons than one. This Women’s team was different. They exhibit professionalism, grit, never say die spirit, compassion, and benevolence. This piece is dedicated to them. Hope you will enjoy the reading piece, which comes after a long time.
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Gender Bias
The Indian women’s winning the ICC World Cup has created a stir in the nation. Suddenly, there are more women cricketers’ faces on the TV. The internet, especially Twitter and Instagram, is full of clips that showcase the winning catch or the catch that dismissed the South African Captain after she had scored a century. There are also clips of Harmanpreet Kaur receiving the Trophy from Jay Shah, and Jemimah Rodrigues playing a guitar in accompaniment with the South African Captain singing a song. There is a surge of moments lived by the women’s cricket team. For a keen observer, many facets deserve looking into. But before I go there, I wish to acknowledge that women’s cricket has come to stay and will capture many more eyeballs, ad revenues, and print editorials in the future. The likes of Smirit Mandana may receive film offers; they will likely be faces for many more advertisements. It will not be an exaggeration to state that: Beware, Bollywood divas, competition is coming your way. For that matter, beware: The Virat Kohlis, Sachin Tendulkars and Dhonis of the cricketing ad world, you have competition. That’s not enough, like the advert on the TV about the dilemma of the office goer, whether to sport an India Blue jersey with a woman’s cricketer’s name on it, cricket enthusiasts would learn the names and the strengths of all women cricketers, so that they will be more knowledgeable to predict the composition of the team and the likely match situation. It’s a known fact that half the country is cricket expert on Men’s cricket. Many online apps invite team selections before a T20 game, especially during the IPL. But there is a complete lack of expertise on women’s cricket. 99% of those experts in Men’s cricket will draw a blank beyond four or five names. E.g. who is the second fast bowler who opened bowling against South Africa, or who is the wicket keeper for the women’s team? The public euphoria on Sunday was centred on cricket and India’s victory. cricketing aspects such as: How good is the middle order, or who can bat at the tail of Indian batting? Such nuances were out of the syllabus for most followers. This nuance will change.
But this article is not about analysing how little we know about women’s cricket. It’s about discovering cricket as played by the women’s cricket teams. ‘Optics’ is the word that comes to mind. Are the optics different when a person watches a men’s Cricket match and a Women’s cricket match? We would take the recently concluded One-day World Cup women’s finals and the Men’s Asia Cup finals. In both India was the winner. Many years ago, this debate arose in men’s and women’s tennis when the Tennis Federation equalised the prize money to women ‘s tournaments commensurate with what was being offered to the men. After much hullabaloo, it was ruled that both genders provide attractions for the audiences who have come to witness entertainment of differing natures. Since they cannot be compared, there is no justification for paying more for the gentlemen. It was in 1973 that the US Open became the first grand slam tournament to equalise the prize money for both men and women. Today, all four grand slam events have equal prize earnings. Will it happen to women’s cricket in India? ‘Yes, ‘ it will happen. Sooner or later, the tournament money and the board contractual money would find near parity with what is offered to men. Women’s cricket will one day receive as much funding as men’s cricket. And here is the reason I am saying so.
There exists in women a streak that is unknown to men, the streak of emotional expression. The men cricketers show emotions in only limited ways. Tight fists and facial gestures of a shout of accomplishment, or by verbal abuse, or by raising their hands or their bats. Their emotions align with male aggression and/or arrogance. Any other emotions are hard to notice. Compare these to what was witnessed in the Women’s World Cup. A bhangra Jig by the Captain in front of the BCCI Chief, Mr Jay Shah, the jig was so heartwarming that it had the entire team swooning to it. And it was a moment later, followed by the touching of feet, which made the statuette, like Mr Jay Shah, recoil. Or the sheer pleasure of the Guru-Shishya emotions being played out after the match, when Captain Harman bowed to her coach Amol Mazumdar, and put her head on his feet. Or the sheer joy on the faces of the reserve players when they ran in to join the celebrations, reminding us of another run and a rugby-like huddle on Jemima Rodrigues after her historic run chase century in the semi finals against Australia. The actions reflected a purity of thought, and the emotions were a window into that purity. The hugs and the banter were refreshing and uninhibited. It was as if all barriers were unshackled. It reminded of the iconic Cadbury ad by Late Piyush Pandey, and it would be a great tribute to his thought of shedding inhibitions in celebrations on a cricket field.
However, for me, the most telling difference was the empathy shown by Indian women players towards the South African team. Their embracing the players and even shed a tear for them. It was as if they said, ‘We have felt it, and we know how it feels.’ No one gave us a shoulder to cry on in England in 2017, and hence, here is one from us. They transcended the game to a higher level of humanity, where rivalries were confined to the field and emotions were shared. It was heartening to see Indian women’s players consoling their South African counterparts, and in doing so, elevating the game of women’s cricket from rivalry to camaraderie. Yet, the sweetest Instagram video is of Jemimah Rodrigues stringing her guitar for a song sung by the South African cricket team Captain, Laura Wolvaardt.
Men will be men, no doubt about that, but women are different. They have brought a new dimension to the sport, one of compassion and understanding, one of empathy and mutual respect.
While the above display of raw emotions may be an exception, as the sport and rivalries are new and not yet mature in women’s cricket. Yet, spotting them for the first time was a refreshing change after the on-field OP Sindoor drama that continuously unfolded on and off the field during the Asia Cup in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. There were many more such heart-warming gestures seen. The Captain wheeling in the injured Pratika Rawal for the trophy-receiving celebrations was another such gesture that left one’s heart glad. Now Sunil Gavaskar has to fulfil his promise of singing at some event with Jemimah Rodrigues strumming her guitar, which would be another first in the fusion between the old and the new. The women have brought a refreshing change to the game and celebrations. They are teaching their senior counterparts, the men, how to celebrate the sport and remain humble about it. Will men continue to learn from or take refuge in their macho images worldwide?
