Good news for Women’s cricket – Chennai centre to offer facilities at the grassroots level

The Indian Women’s Cricket Team put up remarkable performances in their World Cup 2017 journey. They became the only team to beat the three best teams – England, Australia and New Zealand in a single edition of the World Cup. Mithali Raj became the highest run-getter in women’s ODI when she went past the 6000 run mark in the group game against Australia.

Young girls like Smriti Mandhana, Ekta Bisht, Veda Krishnamurthy, Shikha Pandey, Punam Raut, Poonam Yadav and the others delivered good performances. Not to forget, Harmanpreet Kaur and Jhulan Goswami were brilliant throughout.

The women’s team had to play a World Cup qualifier to qualify for the mega event of which they reached the finals. Their remarkable journey drew the attention of many, and the world, and India has finally woken up to the beauty of women’s cricket. The girls have received support, facilities, and recognition at the international level. However, the same at the grassroots level is absent.

The CSS-Whatmore Centre for Cricket at the Sri Ramachandra Medical College in Chennai, in order to develop cricket for women, is proposing a plan to the BCCI to offer to coach at the grassroots level. This is to make sure that the current crop of cricketers is succeeded by an equally talented bunch.

Quality in men’s and women’s cricket 

“We will make a presentation to BCCI and Diana Edulji (who is also a member of the Committee of Administrators CoA) soon. This is the right time to support women’s cricket. Our intention is to ensure that women cricketers get all the necessary facilities that the men get,” M Sanjay, head of cricket operations at the CSS centre, told TOI on Monday.

“We have a long-term athlete development programme and we want to bring a system into women’s cricket. It will help them develop into a better unit. Shantha, Shubhangi, Hemamalini – all have welcomed our move. We are hoping for the best,” Sanjay added.