Winning the ICC Woman Cricketer of the Year 2007 award is not just an honour for Jhulan Goswami, it’s an honour for Indian cricket.
Diana Eduljee, former India captain, and one of the pioneers of women’s cricket in the country, writes about what the award won by pace bowler Jhulan Goswami means for the game.
Winning the ICC Woman Cricketer of the Year 2007 award is not just an honour for Jhulan Goswami, it’s an honour for Indian cricket. More so, because there was no other Indian cricketer on the awardees’ list this year.
That an Indian woman has won this award in only the second year of its inception, predicts big things about the future of the game. Women’s cricket couldn’t have got a better recognition than this. This was the kind of boost we have been waiting for.
The BCCI will be happy. Now that the two bodies — BCCI and the Women’s Cricket Association of India — have merged, this win should be a sign of better things ahead.
Till a few years back, women’s cricket was looked down upon. Now players travel in air-conditioned buses or trains, or fly. They are now put up in four-star hotels; we used to stay in dormitories.
With sponsors coming in, things seem to be looking up. The women’s Twenty20 Cup is around the corner. It will be followed by the World Cup in Australia, which will be telecast live worldwide. We have so many talented players and we have also begun beating top teams. So, we have a good chance at the World Cup this time.
We need more tournaments, we need the games to be televised live and we need commentators like Sunil Gavaskar. Only then, people will watch. I am confident this honour for Jhulan will spell greater things for women’s cricket in India.
—As told to Satya Siddharth Rath
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