Women's World Cup: An India v Pakistan cricket match minus fireworks
- Published
India's star batter Smriti Mandhana has recovered from a blow on her helmet in a warm-up game
Arch rivals India and Pakistan will face each other in a marquee game on Sunday in the 12th edition of the Women's ODI cricket World Cup at Mount Maunganui in New Zealand. Sports writer Sharda Ugra describes how women's cricket in the two countries has evolved over the years.
Surprise, surprise - India v Pakistan at a World Cup and there is no manic build-up and drama, no high volume media coverage force-feeding fans with "judgement day" and "clash of the titans" and other such treats. Because it's the women.
The only news out at the moment from Mount Maunganui is that the umpire Decision Review System , externalis going to be used during the tournament and that star Indian batter Smriti Mandhana has recovered after suffering a blow during a warm-up fixture last Sunday.
Like it is with the men, the women's teams play each other only at ICC or continental events, with their first encounter in 2005 at the Asia Cup. The permanent political tension means they rarely play against each other elsewhere.
India have won all their 10 women ODIs against Pakistan and lost only one of 11 Women's T20 Internationals. Naturally, they are yet to play a Test. For no fault of theirs, the women's teams must shoulder the consequences of rancour between their political establishments.
The Women's World Cup in New Zealand features eight teams
You could argue it's not the men's fault either, except that in that case, there is a history of steaming, heightened exchanges going back decades. When relationships thaw, it's only the men's teams who play each other to the delight of cricket fans.
The women's teams, by contrast, are not given the opportunity to write their own distinct stories into the fabric of Indo-Pak sporting contests.
The lineage of women's cricket in both countries has no links with a common past and belongs to two unrelated strains.
Formalised women's cricket in India began in the early 1970s and the Pakistan women's team made its presence known two decades later.
Writer Kamila Shamsie's terrific account of the history of the Pakistani women's team, external tells of death threats against the two pioneering Khan sisters, Shaiza and Sharmeen of Karachi, for organising the first women's match which was watched with zero spectators and 8,000 police for their security.
The biggest threat to the Indian women's game has come from a shortage of funds - which they handled gamely until the 2006 merger with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) - and after that, from neglect.
So why then, must India-Pakistan women's cricket walk the path of its men?
Because trying to negotiate any engagement between the two teams outside of the male biosphere is simply too much work.
Bismah Maroof has returned to captain the Pakistan team after a maternity break
The cricketing argument could suggest that there is a gap between the two teams and it won't make for much of a contest. But we won't know if they only meet once in two years, Covid or no Covid.
The 2017 Women's World Cup - where India made the final and lost to England narrowly, external at Lord's - changed the public profile of the women's game in India. Pakistan failed to win a single game in that tournament.
In the five years between then and now, India have played 40 ODIs, winning 19 and losing 21. Pakistan have played 34, won 11 and lost 21.
In the latest ICC rankings, India are ranked four and Pakistan eight. But given that debutants Bangladesh - with only five matches to their name - are ranked sixth, the rankings are not gospel.
Between World Cups, Pakistan scored their first victory against New Zealand, were competitive while playing against West Indies, and in a warm-up game stunned the hosts New Zealand again, even though they were not playing at full strength.
The Indians narrowly defended a total of 244 against South Africa, external in their opening warm-up game before scoring a comfortable victory over the West Indies.
Indian fans cheer the team during a women's World Cup game against Pakistan in 2017
India, the far stronger team with more matches in the lead up of the event, are expected to win against Pakistan. But it is the sharpness of their performance that will give us an idea of how this tournament could turn out for them.
In terms of sheer optics, however, some frames cannot be ignored in Sunday's India v Pakistan match.
The BCCI does not have a women's wing, unlike in Pakistan. Earlier in the week, Pakistan Cricket Board's player-chairman Ramiz Raja gave a go-ahead for the inaugural season of the Women's Pakistan Super League to be held next year. BCCI has made promises about a women's IPL - secretary Jay Shah only saying it will "start soon."
Sunday's game will begin early in the morning for both countries in the middle of Test matches for their men's teams - India is playing Sri Lanka and Pakistan is playing Australia - but the match will be followed. Just because it's India v Pakistan and a certain degree of frisson is a given.
Pakistan captain Bismah Mahroof has put the best kind of spin on the game.
Mahroof, who is just out of maternity leave and at the World Cup with her six-month-old daughter Fatima, said: "This match is a great opportunity to inspire millions of girls in Pakistan and India to take up this sport as a profession."
- Published28 October 2021
