While the Indian WC-winning team will always be considered pioneers who helped lift women's cricket, their developmental years were far from ideal when it comes to nutrition. (Express Photo by Narendra Vaskar)
At a BCCI inter-zonal tournament when she was younger, India’s World Cup-winning cricketer Harleen Deol carried a bottle of Cola. It was a basic challenge in restraint, she had set herself – returning home with the bottle still sealed.
It was a necessary change in her diet to take her game to the next level. Her elder brother, Dr Manjot Singh, revealed to this paper that it was not just cold drinks, but also fast food she loved, and had to cut off.
For star of the finals Shafali Verma, who debuted early, the realisation that protein deficiencies came in the way of recovery from soreness, struck early and protein scoop spoons became a constant accompaniment. “Because I am a vegetarian, and it’s very difficult for me to meet protein intakes, I relied a lot on protein powders,” she recalls. There was also “green things, green vegetables….,” which she began consuming later, she adds, but the science of why vitamins are necessary for absorption of key nutrients, isn’t clear to her.
“When Kranti Gaud came to train with me, she would have the normal diet from home, including rice, dal, chapati and all. As she trained, we included things like sprouts, chilla, fruits, as well as soaked black lentils,” says Kranti’s coach Rajiv Bilthere, even as the festivities post the world title triumph, fade off.
The young Sree Charani who always played some sport, has shunned chocolates and even sugar in milk for a few years now. “Right from early age she doesn’t eat sweets and sugars. (After joining indian team) Oily foods have been reduced too,” says her mother Renuka. While eating meat is a habit on Wednesdays and Sundays at her household, Sree Charani also learnt to flip herself a nice omelette to keep up the protein levels.
While the team will always be considered pioneers who helped lift women’s cricket, their developmental years were far from ideal when it comes to nutrition. Dietary changes kicked in, but not early enough. It’s why while India tries to catch up with Australia (7 trophies) and England (4), the country is realising that its women cricketers need improved awareness of nutrition, to get stronger and fitter for a sustained pursuit of silverware.
Mihira Khopkar, who is a Lead Sports Nutritionist at Reliance Foundation Sports has made early assessments in the field, and surveyed ~100 female cricketers across various gymkhanas in Mumbai for their nutrition knowledge studying their pre- and post-training meal options back in 2016. “Their nutrition knowledge was poor, and they often opted for local snacks such as vada pav/biscuits post-training. Intake of dairy, green veggies, fruits, eggs, and nuts was found to be lower as well. Nutrition awareness amongst elite cricketers has improved, but there is still a void when compared with how cricketers from Australia develop,” she says of the group surveyed in the 13 to 20 age bracket.
Standardising diets doesn’t work because absorption of nutrients varies from one woman to another. A lot depends on gut health, hormonal balances, and overall diet quality. Aditi Mutatkar, former international badminton player who heads the Women in Sport initiative at Simply Sport Foundation, points out that economic conditions in India are a challenge. “Sports science support hasn’t yet reached the grassroots or become easily accessible. The usual roti, chawal, daal, sabji diet often lacks the nutrient density needed for competitive sport. Many young athletes also don’t eat enough eggs or quality protein to build muscle or maintain healthy body composition,” she explains.
Feeding an athlete takes money and buying power of families raising athletes in India is often low. “So where is the money for magnesium or other essential supplements going to come from?”
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Injuries invariably happen due to poor bone health among women. Micronutrients that support this are not readily available in Indian meals, yet they are extremely important. Nutrients like magnesium, Vitamin D, B12, and Vitamin K are often missing. “Some, like Vitamin D and omega-3s, can come from cod liver oil, but others such as magnesium and B12 need more dietary variety or proper supplementation. These topics are rarely even discussed when girls begin their journey in sport,” Mutatkar adds.
Discussions on menstrual health and food are not exactly common either, and they directly impact women athletes. Sportswomen often face repetitive stress fractures that are quickly labelled as overtraining. “But unless we connect these injuries to menstrual health, hormonal balance, and early nutrition, long careers in sport will never be sustainable. A lot of girls don’t even know what haemoglobin means, and that lack of awareness often shows up as anaemia, which can be an early sign of Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs),” Mutatkar explains.
Under-nourishment can also cause poor decision-making during crunch situations in high-pressure games, which lead to losses from relatively winnable positions. “A diet that is very low on good quality carbohydrates can often lower circulating glucose levels, and affect the brain’s ability to think efficiently, especially in pressure situations,” Khopkar says.
Indian cricketer Arundhati Reddy acknowledged that playing WPL did help them understand fuelling. “I was not extremely aware of how I should go about diet. But now, it’s mandatory. The injury rates have come down, a lot of players were moving very well on the field. And a lot of batters were hitting very long sixes,” she says.
But the upcoming generation might just benefit from this World Cup win, as women’s nutrition becomes as mainstream, as Virat Kohli’s diet fads, were.
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