The Limits of Support: A maternity policy for women cricketers is a positive step but doubts remain

Suryakumar Yadav had led India to a T20 World Cup victory in March this year. By June, he was not only not captain but not even in the team because of a drastic fall in form. Optimum performance is assumed at the elite levels of every sport. Given such competitiveness in the upper reaches of the game, can the recently released maternity policy by the Inter­national Cricket Council (ICC) change much? It is a welcome measure, something that all fields, from gov­ernment to private corporate bodies, now have versions of. The ICC has a 6R framework for the new mother’s calibrated return to playing cricket: Ready (0-6 weeks), Review (6-8 weeks), Restore (8-16 weeks), Recondition (12-16 week-plus), Return, and Refine.

Note that these time periods are after the long layoff that the pregnancy itself has already necessitated for the player. All in all, as­sume a year to 18 months being off the field. In that interregnum, the team will have changed, new players would have entered, some new stars born. How do you fit someone who has been absent over someone in terrific form waiting in the wings for a call? If it was, say, an extraordinary talent who comes once in 20 years, it might still be a no-brainer but most cricketers will probably just have to go through the rounds again to make their place.

They could succeed. Women have retained their championships post-pregnancy like Mary Kom. Team sport is however tougher because of the handful of spots available and the best in the country already vying for them. The physical changes of pregnancy might not be a factor to someone returning to a desk, but the extreme physical endurance that sport demands is an altogether different equation. Months might not be enough.

The first line in the ICC document says, “Tradition­ally, female athletes have often delayed motherhood until after their sporting career.” The policy will give women players reassurance that there is a clear support system for when they want to resume but, one suspects, most would still continue to delay.