Coimbatore girls spin magic, drive to new career

COIMBATORE: S Anusri, a Class IX student at Sri Ramakrishna Matriculation School at Nava India in Coimbatore, starts from her home at Kinathukadavu on the outskirts the city at 5.30am daily, travels 29km on her father’s two-wheeler, undergoes training at the Ramakrishna Cricket Academy on the school campus from 6.30pm till 8.30am.

Then she attends school. After school, again she undergoes training from 3.30pm till around 6pm, before leaving for home with her father on the two-wheeler. She doesn’t mind travelling 58km up and down daily since she is spurred by a strong desire to play for the country. “I joined the school in the city just to improve my cricketing skills. I want to become a player like Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma," she says.That cricket is a gentleman’s game is an old story now as more girls and young women want to choose cricket as their career and achieve greater heights.

And the Indian Women's Cricket Team’s World Cup win convinced them that they are on the right track.Cricket academies in the city have seen a significant spike in the enrolment of girls in recent months. This surge is prompting a renewed focus on improving the sport's infrastructure, coaching and career pathways for women, making it a more viable and recognised profession. But, unfortunately, the cricket academies do not have even a single woman coach to teach the techniques to the girls.

A growing number of girls in the city are taking up cricket, with academies reporting a nearly 50% increase in their participation over the past three years. This growth is driven by the visibility of the Women’s Premier League (WPL), equal match fees, and greater viewership of women’s cricket internationally, among other factors. Adding to this, nearly 200 girls participated in the last district-level cricket team selection held by the Coimbatore District Cricket Association.

Coimbatore emerged as the champion of the inter-district cricket tournament for women, which concluded in Chennai in June.G Aarathana, 10, who joined the Ramakrishna Cricket Academy, says, "I want to become a fast-bowling all-rounder, and I dream of playing in the Women's Premier League (WPL). I started playing cricket because my dad always says he will be happy if I become a big cricketer in the future." S Shrinika, who started playing cricket a few weeks ago, says she joined the academy to learn the sport and shine like World Cup champions.A G Guruswamy, a senior cricket coach in Coimbatore, says, "We started women's cricket coaching post-Covid. Initially, there were nearly 12 girls. Recently, the number of girls choosing cricket as a career has increased as they have good scope in the game. They get equal pay as men in state teams," he says."The selection process for the state team should be altered. Currently, players are asked to bowl and bat in nets during the selection process, and selections are made from there.

There is partiality in women's cricket statewide. So, the winners of the inter-district cricket should be made to play against the city team. The best performers should be selected from the match," he adds.The Coimbatore District Cricket Association is planning to introduce a league tournament for women in the upcoming season to enhance women's cricket in the district. “We are planning to start with a minimum of four teams.

We have produced a notable number of players from the district to represent the state. This current year, we have three players in different categories in the state team. Likewise, city-based V Samyuktha is now selected to represent the state in the under-15 years category," association secretary R Chandramouli says.S Jairupa, who plays for the Tamil Nadu state team, says she was the only girl there when she joined an academy back in 2016. “It was rare to see women or girls playing cricket, but now we have more than 50 girls in my cricket academy alone. Like men, women too get paid if they play for state teams. Many girls can take this as a career option."