Congratulations to our fellow cricketers for winning the gold medal in the Women’s Cricket competition in the ongoing Asian Games. In fact, through this feat, the team managed to retain the honour which it had won in the last Games.
In a pulsating final, Sana Mir’s team repeated the joyous scenes of a similar win at Gunaghazou in 2010 by prevailing over Bangladesh. The match was reduced to seven overs a side due to bad weather and the experienced Pakistan team defended the 47-run target they had set their Asian rivals astutely to add another regional title.
Their task was, though, undoubtedly made easier by the absence of arch-rivals and the most potent team in Asia, India. The Board of Control for Cricket in India decided not to field even a second string team considering the nature of the competition where only Pakistan and Sri Lanka were recognised as top-ranking international teams.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) sent a powerful Pakistan team to the event led by Sana Mir and including some of the stalwarts of the women’s game in the country. While a win surely be lauded the PCB has to take serious steps to build back-up for these players.
The women’s game is confined to a pool of at most 30 players and needs to be expanded to the leading regions around the country. The Asian title can be the right kind of tonic and the board must rope in some decent sponsorship for women’s cricket and make the body self-sustaining.
It is also important to reward players since a win of this magnitude with the prolific media coverage can inspire young girls to take up the sport. The win also draws focus to the immense potential of the women’s cricket team, whose importance is often overlooked and downplayed by the disproportionate level of attention given to the men’s cricket team — which has done little in the recent past to make the country proud.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 28th, 2014.
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Finally something to be Proud about !!! if not the Mens National the Womens National Team shows the way !!! Proud Moment !!!