Men’s cricket team in India reached their high after winning the 1983 world cup, similarly the vice-captain shares that winning a world cup for the side will help to grow a new perspective towards women’s cricket and it holds a lot of importance.
The 2017 Women’s world cup was a wake-up call for the officials as well as for the spectators as no one expected or were excited for the Indian team to reach the finals. Whereas the team showed their strength and manifested the potential on-field, however, India lost in the finals but with minimum margin and that catalyzed the development of women’s cricket in India.
Over the years, women cricketers have become household names, “When Kapil Dev’s team won the World Cup in 1983, it changed Indian cricket. Similarly, one World Cup win will change women’s cricket. We are looking forward to that moment,” Smriti told Sportstar on the sidelines of Power fitness collection launch on Wednesday.
Having featured in the Women’s Big Bash League earlier, Smriti knows the challenges of playing in the Australian conditions.“I will try and enjoy my game and keep things simple. If you are cool and calm, results will come your way. That’s my target for the T20 World Cup,” Share on X Smriti said.
The team seems to be well balanced this year with explosive newbies and experienced seniors, India will come up front as strong competition. With youngsters like Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, and Richa Ghosh, the variety and depth in the squad look promising. Smriti considers it as an advantage for the side.
“Richa was really exciting in the Challengers Trophy. She was in my team, the kind of clarity she had was really exciting. Shafali and I try and play each other game the way it is meant to be played,” Smriti said.
Also, the previous week’s central contracts were released by BCCI which offered 50 lakh for the highest category to women cricketers whereas the men were offered with 7 crores as their highest income.
“We need to understand that the revenue which we get is through men’s cricket. The day women’s cricket starts getting revenue, I will be the first person to say that we need the same thing. But right now, we can’t say that,” she said.
“I don’t think any of the team-mates are thinking about this gap because the only focus right now is to win matches for India, get the crowd coming in Share on X, get the revenue. That is the thing which we are aiming for and if that happens all other things are going to fall in place. And for that, we need to perform,” she said.
Indian team left for Australia this Thursday and will indulge in Tri-series contesting England and Australia starting from 31st January in Canberra.
Source: Shayan Acharya for Sportstar
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