Social media, TV coverage have changed dynamics of women’s cricket, says Mithali Raj

The nine-run defeat to England in the Women’s World Cup final at Lord’s continues to rankle, admitted Mithali Raj, but said that the journey to the title round and the subsequent buzz for the game in India have been reward enough.

“Obviously (the loss in the final hurt), but I think it has done well as we have got a platform where we could talk about women’s cricket, talk about women cricketers and how women’s cricket has gone through a transition period,” said Raj after being felicitated by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday (October 24).

Last week, Veda Krishnamurthy was signed by Hobart Hurricanes for the third edition of the Women’s Big Bash League in Australia. She became the third Indian, after Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana, to be a part of the tournament, and Raj felt that playing such leagues would only help Indian players improve their game.

“It would have been good if some of the women cricketers would have had played in other foreign leagues, but again, I would say that a gap is needed to promote women’s cricket,” said Raj. “When you make it big, like play in the World Cup, you need to have time so that you can promote women’s cricket and women’s cricketers. And there are some of the players who have been playing Big Bash League and it has helped their game.”

Speaking about the impact of social media, Raj stressed, “In 2005 (when India reached the final of the World Cup before losing to Australia), there was not much coverage and no live telecast of our matches. We don't have any videos of those games. We only have with us the experience of our journey in 2005. This year, the wide publicity on social media and live television coverage of ICC World Cup has changed dynamics of women's cricket in India.

“The visibility in this World Cup was immense. We got more followers. We couldn't get this momentum earlier.”

Raj and Jhulan Goswami, who was also present at the function along with Rahul Dravid, also remembered their days of struggle. “Way back in the 90s, it was very difficult for us to go through the journey where in Under-16 and Under-19 we had to travel in unreserved trains and used to stay in hostels,” said Mithali. “And it continued when women's cricket was under WCAI (Women's Cricket Association of India). Unlike the US where everything is in place to groom sportspersons for the Olympics, in India we need to make it big before getting some recognition and support from the government.”

Goswami added, “The career of a sportsperson is usually short. For women there is also the challenge of marriage and family. It is more of a gamble, one can fail or succeed.”

Dravid lavished praise on Raj & Co, saying that with the team’s performance at the World Cup, young girls across India didn’t need to look up to the men as role models, as they had Raj and Goswami as idols.

“It is great to see just the direction in which it is going,” he said. “It is fantastic to see that kind of energy being built up about women sports and it has come about because of women like Mithali and Jhulan, who have been the inspiration for this generation.

“Young girls coming through now have the role models and they don’t need to look up to Rahul Dravid or Sachin Tendulkar anymore. They can look up to these girls as their idols.”