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Diana Edulji,
the former India Women captain, has criticised the "discriminatory"
attitude of the BCCI and said the board is not interested in running
women's cricket beyond paying "lip service". She warned that the women's
game in India is in danger of dying out if the current situation
persists.
Edulji, one of India's pioneering woman cricketers, was on the BCCI's
women's committee and was also manager of the Indian Women team in 2009.
It was a "dream" when the BCCI took over women's cricket a few years
ago - in line with ICC regulations - but now the bubble has burst.
"The BCCI is running women's cricket because they have to run it,
because the ICC is now running both men's and women's cricket," Edulji
told ESPNcricinfo. "Otherwise, there is no women's cricket. They cannot
play under any other banner. I would say it is an insult to women's
cricket to be treated this way."
She was scathing about the gender-based double standards prevalent in
the game's administration. As an example, she spoke about how the India
Women team preparing for the Women's World Cup
had been put up in a centrally-located but budget hotel before being
shifted to the luxury Taj Mahal Palace hotel a couple of days ago.
"I was driving and on Marine Drive I saw this whole bunch of red
t-shirts coming. I realised it was the India Women team," Edulji said.
"They were walking from Sea Green [the hotel] to the Wankhede [Stadium].
I stopped my car, and the way they greeted me, I felt nice, but I also
felt that this is the Indian national team, and they are walking on the
street?
"And where are they playing? Police Gymkhana, Hindu Gymkhana, Bombay Gymkhana? Would any men cricketers play there?"
India's international and domestic women cricketers had to make do with
significantly lower match fees and other benefits, Edulji said, and
combined with a sustained lack of exposure, there was little motivation
to take up the game apart from pure love of the sport. "The players
should be getting the maximum. The irony is, in women's cricket it is
the other way round; the selectors get the maximum, then come the match
referees, and then come the players. So how are you going get girls to
come into cricket? And what is the domestic match fee? Rs 2500 (US$ 47
approx). Where are you going to eat, if you stay in a four-star hotel?
And for T20 it is even less, Rs 1250."
Despite consistently being among the top-ranked players in the world, Edulji said India captain Mithali Raj
had little chance of being recognised in public due to the lack of
visibility of women's cricket in India. "I may be boasting. Still, when I
go to movies or restaurants, I am still recognised. But I am sure if
Mithali is with me, she won't be recognised. It is sad. I still feel
nice when someone comes up to me and introduces me to their children.
And why shouldn't these girls get the recognition? Jhulan [Goswami] is a
Padma Shri [winner], she's an Arjuna awardee, so is Mithali."
However, Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI's chief administrative officer, said
the board was giving women's cricket adequate support. "Women's cricket
has come under BCCI's wings in 2006. Since then, the board has done an
excellent job with it," he said. "We have extended the best of
facilities to women cricketers. All the state associations have thrown
open all their training facilities to the girls. Besides, virtually
every team has all the requisite support staff, including a coach, a
physio and a trainer.
"All the girls are very happy with these facilities. The board is
focussing on shorter formats for women's cricket because almost all the
international calendar revolves around T20s and ODIs. And the women's
committee's suggestion of splitting the inter-state competitions into
Plate and Elite group has been accepted. Next year onwards, top 10 teams
will play each other, thereby increasing the level of competition."
Abhishek Purohit is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
Feeds: Abhishek Purohit
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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