The Indian women added one more feather to the cap. It was a brilliant performance. The team has come a long way. They are improving in every game and in every series. All of these augurs well for the women in the country. We may finally see the raise of women’s cricket in the country. The performance of the women in the first test will help in that aspect. Let me try to review India vs Australia women.
First let me review and game and later I will raise certain points that shows the sad state of affairs for women’s cricket.
About the test
The highlight of the Indian innings was Smriti Mandhana’s brilliant innings. She became the top scorer for any visiting team. She is in her twenties with the world as her oyster. Shefali Verma, the teenager continues to impress everyone. She is proving to be a dynamite at the top of the order. The biggest surprise was however the omission of Sneh Rana. She was the one who saved the test against England just a few months ago. Now, she finds herself out of the team. Her replacement Deepti Sharma did not disappoint either. With 66 and a couple of wickets it was a wonderful performance. It perhaps shows the depth of women’s cricket in this country.
The consoling part of the game, from an Indian’s perspective was certainly the huge first innings lead. No one would have expected this. It was brilliant performance by the Indian bowlers with all of them contributing with wickets. The only reason Australia declared was because they did not wanted to be embarrassed by being bowled out well below the Indian score.
With Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami not expected to be around for too long, these young players are the future for Indian cricket.
Gains for India
Overall, the gains for India from this test was significant. Not the least is confidence. First test in Australia after 15 years. Pink Ball. Day and night test. The ball was expected to move around under lights. Australia playing at home and having been used to playing with the pink ball. Almost everything stacked against the Indian women but they came out of it unscathed. If you had expected the Indian women to struggle against the pink ball, you will be forgiven.
On the contrary, not only did they bat well but Smriti, Shefali & Punam batted exceptionally to give a solid platform. Australia did not have any response to the top order and once India crossed 200 with just 2 wickets lost, Australia were left to catch up. When Australia were batting, the Indian bowlers kept things tight. They maintained constant pressure. Easy runs weren’t given which would have eased the pressure and wickets fell in frequent intervals.
Lack of opportunities
Despite the merging of both men and women associations, throughout the world, the women’s game hasn’t seen any major improvement. The fact of the matter is that the women cricketers never got their due. Players like Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami have been around for 20 years. Yet, they have played only about 12 tests. Whether the English and Aussie women have played more games? No, they have not. Slightly better than their Indian counterparts.
No DRS
What was however more shocking was a couple of things. One was that the women’s game does not have DRS. This is nonsense. Infact, this is not at all acceptable. On the one hand, we have the International Olympic Committee making it mandatory for every sports body under its umbrella to unite both the men’s and women’s association and here we have the ICC that does not want to treat the women’s game as equal to the men’s. Every team have embraced the concept of DRS. Even the Indian team who after their initial reluctance have accepted. However, for some reason, the ICC does not want to implement the same rules for the women. If the games can be televised live, having DRS as part of the game must be possible too.
ICC cannot think about money all the time. Agreed, atleast for now, that women do not command viewership but that does not mean that even the basics of the game must be denied to them. It is time ICC treats women with respect and introduces or makes it mandatory for DRS to be used in all the games.
CA said that originally it had been hoped to have the system for the India tour, but Covid-related logistical challenges meant it wasn’t possible.
I wonder whether Cricket Australia would have given the same excuse if the men were involved? Leave alone India, they would not have left any stone unturned if it meant the Australian men were to play Sri Lankan or West Indies men.
Test over 4 days
Second, is the concept of 4-day tests. Until the recent series, I never knew that women “tests” are 4 days affair. When someone hears the word “test”, it has always meant 5 days. It does not really matter whether the men are playing or the women are playing. Tests must be over 5 days. It was really strange to find that women tests are over 4 days only. I really do not know who makes the rules at ICC but that one must be sacked immediately.
The women cricketers too must raise their voice against these gross injustice.
How India would have loved to have that extra day. They were far ahead and you never know. India could have won the test.
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