ON A HIGH
| Date :02-Mar-2020 |
INDIAN women’s cricket team is on a high. The team has reached the semi-finals of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup in progress in Australia. The team began the tournament with a bang by handing down a shock defeat to host Australian women. Then onwards there is no stopping them. The team has entered semi-final with all-win record, defeating in the process, Bangladesh, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. The team boasts of a 16-year batting sensation in Shafali Verma.
All the members of the team are very proud of the highly talented Shafali and the team management is in no mood to curtail her aggression which is good for the shortest version of the game. With such power hitters in the side, the team can expect a positivity to develop into the whole group. Whatever the outcome in the knock-out stage, the Indian women’s team has proved that it is among the top teams in women’s world cricket. Last time as well the Indian team had reached the finals of the World Cup but unfortunately had lost to England in a close finish.
Ever since much changes have taken place in the management of women’s cricket in the country and quite a few talented women cricketers have been added to the team. For example Radha Yadav has already become a very important part of the Indian attack for her bowling exploits. Against Sri Lanka she had career best figures of 4/23. In fact Shafali Verma’s knock of 34-ball 47 and Radha Yadav’s 4/23 bowling display made the contest against Sri Lanka lopsided, such was the dominance of the Indian team. Led by Harmanpreet Kaur, herself a very powerful hitter of the ball but is having a lean patch in this tournament, the current team is packed with highly talented players.
That Shafali Verma, the newcomer to international cricket, is the top scorer in the tournament with a 161 runs at an phenomenal strike rate of 161 shows the amount of talent the Indian women have. Ever since women’s cricket has come under the umbrella of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the International Cricket Council (ICC) women’s cricket has changed for the good. The BCCI has appointed special coaches for nurturing talent among women. They now also have access to facilities which are available to boys, besides the remuneration as entitled to them.
Such support assures security to women cricketers. It is for this reason that more and more women are getting attracted towards the game and creating steady supply chain of talented cricketers. The BCCI has in place a well organised development regime for the game at every level, holding competitions for different age groups, offering opportunities to boys at early age. Similar plans need to be drawn out for development of cricket among women at every level.