Call Them the Indian Team

When we left Mumbai to play in the World Cup in 2017 there were hardly any journalists who had come to the airport to see us off. But when we returned to India on July 25, having made the final, there were close to a hundred journalists at 2.30AM in the morning. I was surprised to see so many journalists and must tell you the flashes just did not stop. This was something totally new. Since then all of us have been flooded with interview requests and offers. We have been invited to events, have been felicitated and celebrated the country over. Today, people stop to recognise and greet us. I have been playing for India for 18 years now and this has never happened before. So, in that sense 2017 has made a huge difference to our sport.
—Mithali Raj, Captain

THEY ARE NOT THE WOMEN’S CRICKET TEAM

Sample this. Barely a dozen journalists were present at the press conference where India captain Mithali Raj outlined her plans for what was to be the biggest tournament of her career, before leaving for England in June 2017. On July 26, more than 60 journalists and cameramen flocked to the Grand Ballroom of the JW Marriot in Mumbai, where Raj and her girls fronted the felicitation presser, less than three days after coming second-best to England in a closely contested World Cup final.

Yes, you read that right: in the dead of night, the Mumbai airport was teeming with fans, junior cricketers, policemen and the media, who couldn’t seem to get enough of the Indian team.

Even when Jhulan Goswami, one of the stars of the campaign, landed in Kolkata the next day, there were no fewer than 50 journalists present at NSCBI airport. The team was awarded ₹ 50 lakh each by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and other hefty monetary rewards and commendations were subsequently conferred on them by the state associations and Indian Railways.

The build-up to the final on July 23, 2017 had started early in the morning. Queues of Indian fans began making their way into the stadium well in advance of the start of play—a sight so very common whenever India plays at Lord’s. Only this time, it wasn’t Rohit Sharma and his boys. It was Raj, Goswami, Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma and 11 other women, who had finally forced the Indian cricket fan in London and beyond to come to Lord’s waving the Tricolour and hollering for the blue brigade. Back home, the build-up was no less momentous. All India Radio, in a rare gesture, had organised live commentary in multiple languages and the host broadcaster was showing the match across eight different channels. Not to be left behind the news channels, which play a key role in generating buzz, all of them had multiple shows right through the day. Suffice to say, it was the biggest news event in the country on the day.

Furthermore, even when the team lost, the buzz did not diminish. From the prime minister of India down to other high-profile politicians, sports stars and Bollywood celebrities, social media was a rage, celebrating the achievement of Raj and her team. The sport, it was apparent, was no longer an also-ran. The team had done enough to lift it out of oblivion and shove it right at the centre of public discourse. Each of the players, stars in their own right, has been celebrated. In fact, the sport has only grown bigger since. With BCCI keen on a WIPL in the near future, the potential of the sport to scale newer heights is for all to see.

There were no television cameras in 1983 when Kapil Dev smashed that 175 against Zimbabwe and rescued India from the depths of despair. While the world missed out on seeing the heroics, for his teammates the knock had the effect of making them feel that a miracle was indeed possible. A dream that few dared to even think or speak about, turned into a reality in the next two weeks. Prior to the 1983 World Cup triumph, India’s victories, few and far between, were hardly accorded the recognition they merited. With 1983, it all changed.

Harmanpreet Kaur’s unbeaten innings of 171 against Australia in the 2017 semi-final, which was broadcast live across the world, had equal potential and more. Kaur was trending ahead of the newly elected president of India and had broken through as the emblem of a blue billion that dared to believe. Every six that came off Kaur’s bat was a statement in itself. So what if the opposition had Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry, Raj and her blue brigade were out there to seek immortality. The World Cup, for Kaur, Raj, Goswami and the other girls, was an opportunity that they couldn’t afford to let go of. Even though they fell nine runs short of lifting the trophy, they had done enough.

On August 14, 2016, Dipa Karmakar, the young gymnast from Tripura, made the world sit up and take notice of what an Indian is capable of when pitted against the best in the business, including the likes of Simone Biles, who took the gold for the US at the Rio Olympics. She was followed by Sakshi Malik, who helped lift the growing gloom in Rio and was bettered by PV Sindhu, who gave further impetus to an Indian badminton revolution that was begun by Saina Nehwal in London in 2012.

On July 23, 2017, 11 Indian girls stepped onto the hallowed turf at the Lord’s cricket ground, knowing they were on the cusp of history. Rather, they were shaping history. Moments after the final came to a close, Abhinav Bindra tweeted saying, “Shit happens”. Bindra, for the record, came the closest to a second-time podium finish at the Olympics in Rio, before eventually losing out in a tie-breaker. It was the closest one could get to a medal and yet not win. Was it pressure or was it just that moment? As Bindra says, it just happens. In that moment when Veda Krishnamurthy played a cross-batted slog trying to clear the infield and go big, she must have backed herself in doing so. Until then, she had been hitting the ball cleanly and there was no doubting her ability. But that particular shot did not work. And she knew it the moment she had hit it. A slight shake of the head as she set off for the single was proof of what she must have felt.

And then, it was the teenager Deepti. For her, this was as hard as it could ever get. The pressure of a World Cup final and the pressure of a billion expectations is not something one comes to deal with every day. Deepti, it must be said, will never face anything harder in her whole life than what she felt on the field that day. A charge to lift the ball over the bowlers head for a boundary and it was evident, she had the mettle. But could she finish the job that all of her seniors wanted her to? Seeking immortality is one thing but to achieve it is something very few have ever done. Deepti, it must be said, did her best at Lord’s. In front of a packed stadium, she looked anything but a 19-year old.

REAL IMPACT OF THE CAMPAIGN?

With several years gone by, the moot question is what does the future hold for the sport?

For the record, India won 101 medals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and it was our best showing ever. It was followed by an impressive performance at the 2010 Asian Games, with our boxers winning multiple medals, including a very important gold medal by Vijender Singh. The surge continued in London in the 2012 Olympics and India ended up with six medals for the first time in history, with podium finishes in boxing, shooting, wrestling and badminton. But soon enough it was all back to square one. With the Indian Olympic Association suspended for corruption and mismanagement in December 2012, the entire momentum was lost.
That’s what we don’t want for women’s cricket.

We need a successful 2022 World Cup. We must have it to secure the sport. With the World Cup upon us, it is time to get behind the blue brigade one more time. Not the Indian women’s cricket team. Rather, the Indian team. Raj, the captain, leading an Indian team out in New Zealand will yet again galvanise the nation and corporate India will be forced to take notice. The women, lest we forget, are equal stakeholders in the decision-making as the men.

There is indeed enough momentum for a revolution. Only it should not get stymied by our penchant for not going deep down and effecting structural change.

And yes, there is enough for a gripping story to be written. As I said earlier, maybe another day, another time.

I will leave the last words of this column to Jhulan Goswami: “When older siblings [implying male siblings] needed one more person to play with, I was called upon to make up the numbers. After they finished playing, I practised all by myself because that was the only time I had access to the bat and the ball. From Chakdaha to New Zealand has indeed been an eventful journey.”

Story there? Oh yes!