In the latest episode of the podcast we chat with journalist Annesha Ghosh about the Indian Women cricket team – their journey in 2022 and how much there is to look forward to in 2023.
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Google PodcastsTalking Points:
- 2022: a momentous year for Indian women’s cricket both on and off the field
- Mithali Raj: colossus nonpareil
- Jhulan Goswami: a torchbearer who inspired a generation
- The physiological challenges for a woman to bowl fast
- How Kolkata toasted Jhulan during her last match
- The lack of transparency with the Indian selectors
- Shikha Pandey’s comeback – and her ingenious practice videos
- India’s march to Commonwealth Games final – and the eventual heartbreak
- The sizzling Harmanpreet-Jemima partnership at the final
- How does any team beat Australia? What is the secret sauce
- The allround options in the Indian lower order
- Deepti Sharma’s running out Charlie Dean at the non-striker’s end
- The incredible potential of the women’s IPL
- The BCCI’s historical apathy towards women’s cricket
Participants:
Annesha Ghosh (@ghosh_annesha)
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)
Ashoka (@ABVan)
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Related:
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2023 could be India Women’s all-at-once year, after everything, everywhere in 2022 – Annesha Ghosh – Moneycontrol
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Jhulan Goswami: A swansong of Indian cricketer who inspired millions of women – Annesha Ghosh – BBC
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The girl who took women’s cricket to the next level – Annesha Ghosh – The Cricket Monthly
- The Fire Burns Blue – Karunya Keshav and Sidhanta Patnaik – Amazon
- Cameroon bowler Maeva Douma effects four mankads in two overs – Wisden
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Why is there stigma involved in running out a non-striker? Because it’s all about power – Sidharth Monga – ESPNcricinfo
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Viacom 18 bags women’s IPL media rights for $117 mln – Reuters
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Lead image from here.
First things first, a very longish discussion, thankfully. IMHO this series was long overdue and let’s hope it’s a start of many such discussions on women cricket particularly in India.
IIRC when I first watched women’s cricket on TV, the Aus and English women had skirts as their uniform (may be NZ too). And as a kid, I was never too bothered about watching the matches live (any match). What I do remember was that the women’s cricket seemed too slow when compared to men’s cricket.
This is where I think Harmanpreet’s 171* innings is so special – that innings (and her reaction after reaching that 100) changed a lot of perspective. That women’s cricket can be explosive, they can express, they can hit aerial shots, and they can abuse and not just restricted to “didi didi”. Perhaps this is why for a lot of young cricket fans of women’s cricket that 2017 final was the first heartbreak.
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Slightly digressing, but what goes 😀
Few years ago (around 2014-2017), a family used to live in our apartments society. They had a young daughter around 5-6 years of age and she used to play cricket with the boys – in the society park. And since our flat is on the first floor, I used to watch them play. And that girl could play shots. And not even content with that, with every run/boundary, she used to announce the score as well after every ball (like some of used to in our childhood). For example, “34 runs, 2.4 overs, 2 balls to go”.
And I used to call my brother, my wife, my mother, I mean whoever I can get hold to watch her play. She was that good.
One day, the kids were playing football. And she was good at that too. She kicked the ball, and it hit the young goalkeeper around his tummy and deflected to go in the goal. And she took off like Imran Tahir to celebrate the goal while the young GK continued to grimace in pain, on the ground.
I have rarely watched such aggressive streak in any Indian women. They (the family) left the society sometime before the pandemic and while I don’t even know their names (neither the family’s or that girl’s), I wish she becomes a sportsperson when she grows up.
story over
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Reg the Mankad dismissal, it’s really good that the team’s fundamentals are in place and they do not get swayed by useless emotions like “some batter deserving a century so let’s not get him out this way”.
Our U19 team has just won the inaugural World Cup and overall things are really looking good for women’s cricket. Let’s keep hoping for the best!
Lovely comment, Vivek. Enjoyed the story about the young girl you observed playing cricket near your apartment. I am quite ashamed to have not done a podcast on Indian women’s cricket for so long. Hopefully, this will be the first of many. – sidvee