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India is a country obsessed with bollywood and cricket, there is no denying that. While the whole country is waiting for the ICC World Cup to begin and support Virat and the boys, is there anyone out there anticipating a certain other World Cup that would be held in 2021? Does anyone recall that the Indian Women's Cricket Team were the runners-up in the Women's Cricket World Cup 2017? Can anyone name all the players in the Indian Women's Cricket Team? Before you answer these questions, let me get to the most basic question of all. How many of you were aware that there is a Indian Women's Cricket Team?
I'm not going to get into the details of the players here, because for me each one of them is a hero already. With barely any sponsorship and almost negligible viewership, these women still go out there on the field and play the game with all their might. The Indian Women's Cricket Team does come under BCCI, but is not even given half the importance that the Men's Cricket Team gets. I watched an interview of these girls once where they said that they are used to playing matches with almost no audience and yet they give 100% to the game. The number of overs is the same for both men and women. The effort and level of difficultly is the same for both men and women. And yet, do you know the difference in pay for men and women? Let's not even talk about the endorsements they get or how "popular" the men are over the women.
Still, the women do their job. They travel from country to country giving the game everything they have. They sit behind and watch their male counterparts walk away with national honors and sporting awards, still, they don't complain. They silently do what they are expected to do. Play the game that they are so passionate about. They do justice to what is expected from them without expecting anything in return. How can these women not be inspirational?
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I'm participating in the April A to Z Challenge for 2019 and my theme is Wonder Women.
It's sad to see that the women in blue dont get as much recognition, awards, endorsements etc as their male counterparts. Considering that we are cricket crazy nation, I wonder why there is so much of disparity!!
ReplyDeleteIt really is a sad state of affairs for them.
DeleteSounds like a similar story to our United States women's soccer team who get less attention and are paid less even though they're much more successfull than the men's soccer team.
ReplyDeleteSounds pretty much the same. The men's team are successful here, but the women are no less. They just need more recognition.
DeleteI've caught a few matches of the Indian Womens cricket team. The matches are not as fast paced as those of the men. It's a Catch 22 because viewership does not increase unless the matches get very exciting. That will not happen unless they get lots of opportunities to play and more people to cheer them on.
ReplyDeleteWe need crowds and noise to watch a game, Rachna. Sadly these women do not get them. They need to get awards and endorsements to get noticed as well.
DeleteCricket is always considered a man's game, I guess. It is a sad reality that we only think of the glorified men's team when we think of Indian cricket and of course, it is considered next to religion.
ReplyDeleteAbout time these women are given a chance to change it.
DeleteGiven that cricket is a religion in our country its sad to that the women's cricket team hardly gets any recognition. The pay disparity between them is also alarming. While the players in A, B and C category for Men received Rs 5 crore, Rs 3 crore and Rs 1 crore, respectively; women cricketers get Rs 30 lakh and Rs 10 lakh in B and C categories, respectively. This reflects the sad state of Women's cricket I guess.
ReplyDeleteSeriously. Hopefully they'll change soon.
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