Pak women drop veil, come out to bat against India

In the remote corners of Pakistan where Armana Khan grew up, girls were rarely allowed to go nut in public, let alone to wield a cricket bat...

In the remote corners of Pakistan where Armana Khan grew up, girls were rarely allowed to go nut in public, let alone to wield a cricket bat and throw a ball.

Yet the pair defied local customs and religion and are part of Pakistan’s new women’s national cricket team, who take on India in the first series of its kind between the great sporting rivals starting next week. “I never faced resistance at home because I used to play along with my father and brothers, but I never thought I’d come this far,” said Kanta, 24, a right-arm medium fast bowler from Abbotabad, in North West Frontier Province.

India’s under-21 team, which on Monday becomes the first ever Indian womens’ team of any sport to cross the border, will play four matches on September 28 and 29, and October 1 and 2, in the eastern city of Lahore.

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The tour is seen as a big step forward for women’s rights in this largely conservative Islamic Republic. It is also considered a boost for female cricket in general on the subcontinent, where the game is an almost universal passion.

Only recently did the the hardline Islamic government in the same province, which borders Afghanistan, lift a ban on male sports coaches training women.

Meanwhile, 23-year-old Armana is from a town in the conservative southwestern province of Baluchistan, which is more famous for being near the site of Pakistan’s first atom bomb test. “In an era when tolerance and equality are promoted in all sports, cricket give us girls a way to live freely,” said Armana, a wicket-keeper batsman who admires former Pakistan great Wasim Bari and Adam Gilchrist.

“We follow a strict dress code of shalwar (baggy trousers) and long shirts, and male spectators are not allowed to watch our matches, so I don’t see there should be any problems.”
— Shamsa Hashmi, PCB women’s wing secretary and team captain

Pakistan’s female cricketers still face the threat of protests or worse from religious zealots, and cricketing authorities have taken steps to prevent trouble.

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They have also learnt from the example of a mixed marathon race which met with serious opposition in Lahore in April, leaving a number of people injured when hardliners clashed with police.

“We follow a strict dress code of shalwar (baggy trousers) and long shirts, and male spectators are not allowed to watch our matches, so I don’t see there should be any problems,” said Shamsa Hashmi, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) women’s wing secretary and captain of the Pakistan team.