Is cricket really a gentlemen’s game?

With cricket frenzy in the air, I am tempted to question its label as the ‘gentlemen’s game.’

Ladies, except as cheerleaders and a few as businesswomen, appear to have been completely sidelined from the field. Not that one cares, even from a feminist angle, but has the right to view the game from a fairer or at least the fairer ones’ perspective. This is the demand of the day with a communication revolution having taken cricket to coloured heights, a total contrast to the phase when players donned only whites and the viewers’ world was confined to black and white television sets.

The cricket frenzy of viewers around the world is decided by the movements of a small ball, a course dependent on the actions of 22 players. A close eye is kept on how the ball is maneuvered between two bats, four bails, six stumps, the boundaries. The energy that players spent, running and jumping hard, even falling on the ground, all for the sake of that ball, even overshadows the actions Indian filmy heroes enact on the big screen. Besides, the neo-commercial and diplomatic importance gained by cricket has broken numerous barriers, uniting rivals and friends to play the game. This does justify cricket being an extremely ‘gentlemanly’ game.

Yet, the nature of Indians’ passion for the game can spell a shock for those thinking of it as only a ‘gentleman’s game.’ It is played in streets and lanes in residential areas, where smashing windowpanes of cars and houses with ‘boundaries’ is just a mild reflection of the passion displayed by these young players. When there is no space outside, cricket enthusiasts satisfy themselves by playing within their own lawns or even on staircases.

Gender-discrimination and the game cannot be delinked. As soon as a boy is old enough to handle a bat, the father’s job is to teach him cricket. The daughter is naturally expected to be a viewer. I still have faint memories of enjoying the game (as much a toddler could) with the family dog serving as my companion and fielder, while my father taught my elder brother cricket. Later, I was giving the luxury of playing the game inside the house, the lawn or stairs, with the lanes serving as field for other games like badminton, tennis, even volleyball, but not cricket.

Women have started taking to the game in recent years, but men still dominate the show. Considering men have been in the field for decades, it is but natural for their cricket to hit headlines and make money, with the women’s game hardly figuring anywhere. The time has not yet come to adopt a feminist attitude towards this trend. Give a thought to the elderly generations’ approach to the game. While grandfathers seem fairly passionate and well-versed about cricket, grandmothers appear more perturbed about the ‘uses’ the tiny ball is put to. The uses include the rapt manner in which bowler rubs the ball, giving her the impression that he was suffering from itches or rashes.

Seriously speaking, in today’s world, the fairer gender is not too bothered about women’s cricket. Bollywood celebrities, politicians and, of course, businessmen have started giving greater importance to cricket than they ever did. They have yet to give serious attention to mixed cricket teams and matches. At present, the ‘gentleman’s game’ has many ladies keeping a close eye on which cricketers are good-looking, their hairstyles, beards, moustaches, who looks better with a clean-shaved look, why have some begun sporting an ‘unshaved’ look and so on. Their passion for the game remains undisturbed, even though it interests most for totally different reasons!

The writer is a freelance journalist