WI eves to come for ODI meet

Suddenly the women cricketers of the country are getting busier. Though at home, they recently played one Test and five one-dayers against N...

Suddenly the women cricketers of the country are getting busier. Though at home, they recently played one Test and five one-dayers against New Zealand. Now they are playing the Nationals at Cuttack. And from Feb 20, they will host the West Indies.

Efforts have definitely increased to raise the standards of the game. And the women cricketers are in a feel-good zone. That’s what India skipper Mamta Maben thinks. ‘‘Several efforts have been taken in the last six months or so to improve the sport and the idea of forming India A side before the forthcoming West Indies one-day series is one of those,’’ she said.

West Indies will play five one-dayers (at Dhanbad, Jamshedpur, Kolkata, Lucknow and Faridabad) against the Indian team while they will have three games against India A. ‘‘This will create a second pool of players with international exposure. It will benefit the fringe players and ultimately the future of women’s cricket in the country,’’ Maben added.

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She said a conscious approach was being made by making facilities like proper training, yoga, sports psychology and help of a dietician available to the players to inculcate the professional approach in them. ‘‘With this approach I hope in five years time we will have a much better team than what we have today.’’

She felt in countries like Australia, New Zealand and England where there is one board for both men’s and women’s cricket, the expertise is better and players get better amenities.

But it may soon become a reality in India also as a part of the phenomenon of merger of men’s and women’s cricket bodies at global level.

Selector Mithu Mukherjee says, ‘‘The secretary of the Women’s Cricket Association of India Subhangi Kulkarni is very enthusiastic to promote the sport and it will show its good results soon.’’

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