Women’s cricket has never received the kind of attention and support it deserves, especially in a cricket-loving country like India. While everyone keeps a track of even the minute details pertaining to men’s cricket, women’s cricket has always been given the step-motherly treatment.
While we are becoming more aware and supportive of the women’s game in recent times, there is still a long way to go before there is at least some kind of parity. A case in point is when a publication made the grave error of addressing Mithali Raj as a ‘former’ Team India cricketer. Bollywood actress and a staunch feminist, Taapsee Pannu was quick to notice the blasphemy and didn’t mince her words while expressing her displeasure of the same. She pointed out that Mithali Raj is still the captain of the women’s ODI cricket team that is going to play the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup.
Taapsee is in the process of training herself to play the titular character of Mithali Raj in a movie titled ‘Shabaash Mithu’ based on India’s wonder girl.
Her tweet goes, “You do realize she is still the captain of the Indian women’s cricket team that’s going for the upcoming World Cup. Exactly the reason why this film NEEDS TO BE MADE! ‘Former’!!! #ShabaashMithu.
As far as Mithali Raj is concerned, she made her debut at the tender age of 16 against Ireland in 1999 and went on to score a century on debut. She holds the record of being the top scorer in women’s ODI. With 7 centuries and 53 half-centuries to her name, she has aggregated 6,888 runs. She is also the leading run-scorer for India across all formats. Add to it, she is also the only Indian captain to have led the team in 2 ODI World Cup Finals, which no Indian male captain can ever boast of.
To be ill-informed about such a personality and publish erroneous reports tantamount to sacrilege. Trust Taapsee to not take it lying down and slam them on social media. This episode hopefully will compel publishers to double-check facts and also create more awareness among people when it comes to women in sports.
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