Our spirited women cricketers

IIt was a difference of a mere five runs that stood between women’s team and a place in semi-finals of World Twenty20

In the end, it was a difference of a mere five runs that stood between the national women’s team and a place in the semi-finals of the World Twenty20. The team bowed out after suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of England in the last pool match, but not before it had rallied for attention from a nation that puts its men on the pedestal in every field while taking women for granted. In the World Twenty20, too, fans only truly followed the men’s team  — so did live television coverage, the media and analysts. Unfortunately, it took a poor performance from the men’s team and a sweet, but tense, victory over archrivals India that got Sana Mir’s players the kind of attention they had long deserved. In its first match of the tournament, the women’s team went down to the West Indies by four runs. A win in this match could have seen the national side advance to the final-four.

While the fans saw the men’s team go down match after match — topping one disappointing performance with another in a matter of days — the women’s squad gained traction and peaked in emphatic fashion after memorable wins over India and Bangladesh. Very few expected them to win against England where the difference of class and professionalism was obvious. For long, women sports in the country have been ignored, suffering at the hands of official apathy and societal taboos. The way we view women in sports needs to change. There is potential in women sports, particularly when it comes to cricket. What is needed for women’s cricket in the country is more official encouragement, a more competitive first class structure, more opportunities against top-flight teams, and more attention from fans and the media alike. The women’s team fought against huge odds to come out of the shadow of the men’s team and delivered. While they played with joy and fervour, their male counterparts behaved like a cranky bunch of tattletales, resorting to finger-pointing and complaining at every opportunity. Shahid Afridi’s body language and expressions reflected in his team’s performance. So did Mir’s. And therein lay the difference.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 30^th,  2016.

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