Bedi’s XI

THE Indian women’s cricket team has a mascot. Mandira Bedi, with the fortuitious intervention of the team’s new-found sponsor, will endeavour to promote interest in the fortunes of Mithali Raj and company when the West Indians come calling this year. Bedi’s claim to cricketing fame, of course, rests on her smiling interventions in off-field telecasts during last year’s World Cup. It is possibly a different matter that her wardrobe — her noodle straps and, alternatively, almost bridal finery — elicited more attention than her feeble attempts to understand the comparative bowling strengths of India and England. Good, bad or rabid, everyone had an opinion on Mandira. In contrast, the women’s team’s claim to any nationally resonant talking point is even more compelling. Women’s cricket survives in India beyond the fringes. Unknown and unhailed, teammates carry on. Their exploits may include world records, but no one seems to take note.

Bedi’s enlistment to the women’s cause would, then, appear to be no bad thing. With toothy TV stars applauding them on, perhaps Raj would finally embrace the glory her world record Test innings merits. Perhaps the long and gritty careers of the game’s elders like Diana Edulji will finally be acknowledged. Why, at a time when even live broadcasts of the men’s fixtures are sought to be spiced up with boundary-line beauty contests, a cheerful anchor’s association with more anonymous women cricketers can only notch up the ratings.

Yet, the induction of Bedi as a promoter of women’s cricket is curious — it highlights the lonely space inhabited by its players. On the one hand is the contrast in interest in the men’s game and the women’s. For a sport that beats to such a gentle rhythm, it’s odd that so little limelight is accorded to its women. On the other hand lies the unstated assumption that sportswomen can never be glamorous icons like their male counterparts are. Soapstars like Bedi are thus needed to provide diversionary, soothing chatter during men’s matches and to actually invite interest in women’s. Keep the designer flannels ready, then, Mandira, it is all part of a great project.