Cricket should rise above gender barriers

Cricket is an all-male affair. The existence of women’s cricket is surprise news for many. It is a fact that Women's cricket has been played internationally since the inaugural women's Test match between England women and Australia women in December 1934. The main difference between men’s and women’s cricket is the lack of spectators for the latter. There is a tendency to belittle women’s cricket due to this. The lack of sponsorship and money flow restricted the best female talents from entering the sport. In fact cricket is not an alpha male game. The characteristics that make a good cricketer are cool head, good temperament and good hand eye coordination. Needless to say all these characteristics are best found in women than men.

 

Cricket is not a game that requires high level of stamina and physical strength like soccer or hockey. It is a game that could be played mixed without any gender barriers or divisions. While keeping women’s cricket as it is, men’s cricket has to be transformed to a mixed game. I am in no way suggesting any quota of reservation for women but instead the selection has to be based purely on merit. This will not only enhance the popularity of cricket, but also will attract a large pool of women into the sport since the rewards are attractive. It will open a window of opportunity to shatter the glass ceiling in other areas of life.

 

In other sports like Tennis or Boxing, women champions are no match for their male counter parts because of the disparity in physical capabilities. But unlike cricket the performance excellence of their male counter parts never diminished the importance of women participants in those sports. Maria Sharapova is as loved as Rafael Nadal . Many may contradict this view pointing out that the popularity of women tennis has more to do with the attire of the players than the play itself. Sadly I do agree. A similar comparison can be made about Beach Volley Ball . As a matter of fact fully clad beach volley ball players will ensure zero viewership for the game and will see it getting eliminated from all major sporting events. But expecting to see women cricket players in their lingerie’s to fill the galleries, should not be considered as the way to move forward.

 

In India cricket is a way of life .Recently, IPL has transformed Indian cricket to a people’s movement rather than a cricketing event. Introducing mixed cricket will definitely help it take to the next level. At least as an experiment, international cricket council should seriously consider introducing mixed cricket and that should be the way forward.