the two sides of cricket

sadhuji

The people of Delhi will be proud of the fact that two world records of test cricket were created by Indians at the Feroze Shah Kotla stadium – the first one by Anil Kumble with his 10-wicket haul, now Sachin Tendulkar with his 35th century. It will take a long time for these to be overhauled.

Not just Indians but the whole World is celebrating the wonderful feat of Sachin Tendulkar proving once again that the trust posed in him by Greg Chappell, the present coach of the team, his team members, the bosses of BCCI and his millions of fans did not go in vain. It takes a lot of determination to scale such towering heights. Agreed that he started off early and that cricket is played more frequently today than it was ten or fifteen years back, focus is of prime importance – once the objective is identified, one must do everything possible to inch forward. The game tires one out, it takes its toll on the physical characteristics of the individual but, once the sights are set, it is a matter of time before the goal is achieved. That is what the master blaster has proved at the Feroze Shah Kotla today, the 10th of December 2005. It will remain a red-letter day for him.

While the celebrations continue, let us spare a thought for the Indian women’s cricket team. They also have reasons to celebrate – they have won the current ODI series against England 4-1. But very little has been written about them. Jhulan Goswami, the medium pacer from Chakdah in West Bengal caused their downfall in the ODI at Silchar capturing five wickets for only 16 runs. The Times of India gave a write up of the game in their sport’s page the next day. Jhulan was declared the woman of the match. But, the pitiful part is that these women players are paid miserably low fees for their efforts. Even though they participate in international events – it seems they get two thousand five hundred rupees per test match and only one thousand for each ODI!!!! I cannot vouch for the figures; it has appeared in the 8th December issue of the Ananda Bazar Patrika, hence presumed to be authentic. If these are really the figures, it reeks of gross injustice.

It is high time that the BCCI takes measures to rectify such glaring disparities.

An interesting link to ‘rediscovering india’ –

http://www.misohoni.com/bba/index.php?d=1367826733

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mooning over a moon journey

shere

Womens cricket is truly boring, the same as mens netball. The same with womens soccer and rugby. Beckham probably earns £100,000 a week at Real Madrid. The highest paid woman player in England was paid £50,000 a year in Italy (I think, several years ago). The USA womens soccer team do attract crowds and some of the players had good commercial deals with likes of Nike.

So its all a matter of market enonomics. I do not see why them being involved in an international event should justify increases in match fees. I am sure most of them have nice regular income from their jobs in the Police and railways where they are promoted out of turn and rarely do any real police duties.

There are numerous other good sportsmen and women in India who never receive recogntion. Muhammed Ali Qaymar was a mighty fine boxer but rarely received any publicity. He even won a gold medal at the Manchester Commonwealth games.