Elegant India opener, Smriti Mandhana was recently interviewed by Akanksha Kamath Vogue for India’s December 2022 cover story and in the column, she discussed passion, purpose, and pure play. She, in the interview, made a couple of appeals to the viewers of the game and are such that the public should understand and follow.
Smriti Mandhana spoke about there being many male viewers and urged women to participate in sports. She believes that even though the women don’t understand the game or like it, they still can be there to just watch it as that is how things will really change for the better in women’s cricket.
Quoting, Smriti Mandhana, “Even now, in stadiums, we have a crowd which is 80 per cent men. I’m not saying that men should not come to our games, but I am urging our women to participate in sports. Even if you don’t understand it or like it, just watch it. That’s how things will really change.”
Smriti Mandhana on the cover of Vogue Magazine India for December edition#CricketTwitter 📸@VOGUEIndia pic.twitter.com/zIrKcREFSa
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) December 10, 2022
Her 2nd appeal to the fans of the game in common was around fans drawing a comparison between men’s and women’s cricket. She elaborated on her appeal by stating it’s just a different game and that you don’t have to put us in the same category and she concluded her appeal with a fitting example from the Tennis court.
Quoting Smriti Mandhana, “I don’t like the comparison between men’s cricket and women’s cricket. It’s just a different game. You don’t have to put us in the same category. Initially, when tennis was developing as a sport, there were comparisons made between the serve rates of different players. Now it has reached a point where Serena Williams is appreciated just as Roger Federer is in his own right. It’s time for cricket to also reach that place.”
Look who’s on the cover of December Vogue India
Smriti Mandhana ❤️#CricketTwitter | #INDvAUS | 📸@VOGUEIndia pic.twitter.com/kX6LL7Ejge
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) December 9, 2022
Sports and especially cricket in India has seen an increasingly higher viewer enthusiasm from both male and female viewers. A data read, the ratings for the Women’s T20 Challenge have seen a growth of 2.5x over 2018 to 2020 from 0.3 to 1.393. The WT20 Challenge’s reach of 105 million outpaced that of the Men’s India vs Australia 2020 ODI series which had a reach of 66 million 94. There was a 58 per cent increase in time spent by viewers watching women’s cricket from 2018 to 2020.
The significant impact in the numbers game is a healthy one but it’ll be interesting to know the male and female percentages, just what Smriti Mandhana wanted to highlight. The count of female turnout at male sporting events has always been an impressive one and the same, female turnout, should now be seen at women’s cricket.
(Quotes sourced from Vogue)
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