Indian Women’s captain Mithali Raj blames lack of TV coverage for poor crowd in matches

With the Women’s cricket World Cup right around the corner, Indian skipper Mithali Raj has discerned more crowd attendance to support and motivate the team. The Indian eves recently played a quadrangular series that included hosts South Africa, Ireland, and Zimbabwe. India won the finals beating South Africa by eight wickets to seal the series.

It was the fourth time that India beat South Africa in their last five outings. However, during the finals in Potchefstroom, there was a very small crowd present to witness the game. Raj blamed this usual poor attendance to the lack of television coverage of international matches.

The 34-year-old Indian skipper is the second highest run-scorer in women’s international cricket and only second woman cricketer to surpass 5,500 run mark.  Nicknamed as the ‘Tendulkar of Indian women’s cricket’, she is currently the all-time leading run-scorer for India in all formats of the game. Mithali has also won the Arjuna award in 2003 for her achievement in sports and the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian award in 2015.

Important to market the sport

Speaking to the local media in Potchefstroom after beating hosts and sealing the quadrangular series, the Indian skipper said, “Back in India, we do have a lot of people coming and watching the matches. It is important that we market the sport. If we are playing a series, or a bilateral series, it is important that it is a broadcaster because a lot of people back home are so inquisitive to know the result of the game.”

“They do follow it over the net, but if it is broadcasted, it can make a huge difference for the profile of the game as well as for the players,” Mithali said.

She also said that they got a lot of positive feedback from the Indian fans who followed the squad’s international games on the internet, but were keen to watch the matches live on television.

The Indian eves will open their World Cup campaign in a derby against the Three Lions in an already sold out derby on June 24.

– Written by Chandra Moulee Das