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4 and out? You must be joking!


Over the past week or so there’s been continuous talk of how five unlucky girls from Hyderabad may miss out on playing in this year’s Under 19 tournament. Why? Because of some silly rule that is applicable to the boys and therefore should be applicable to the girls as well. I believe it’s absolute nonsense! What is this rule, you ask? It is that a player may not be allowed to represent her Under 19 state team for more than four seasons. Again you may ask- Why? It’s quite simple really—there are around 500 boys vying for 15 spots in the state team… The 4 year rule was introduced to give everyone an equal opportunity and make sure boys were not pushed too early into a level they are not ready for. I suppose it’s a pretty good rule if you consider the amount of competition in boy’s cricket, but for the girls… It just won’t work!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, women’s cricket in India is not very popular, which means that there aren’t too many players. Each state (barring maybe Andhra) in the South, has a pool of 18-25 players at the Under 19 level. Considering that most of these girls started playing when they were 13 or 14, they have already played at least two to three seasons for their state Under 19 sides.

My arguments against the application of this rule in the women’s game are clear and very simple.
1.     The girls (five from Hyderabad and one from Tamil Nadu) who are affected by this rule are some of the most talented junior cricketers you will find. A couple of these girls are only 16. They have a lot of cricket left in them and their best performances are yet to come.                                                              

      The rule (if applied) , will leave these girls hanging…. It may even prematurely end (what I believe    could be) pretty successful careers.
2.     
     There isn’t much depth (yet) in women’s cricket in our country. Cutting out players who are ‘impact players’ for their side will simply lower the standard of junior cricket in India. Leaving out these players will lead to the adding of girls who are in the state Under 16 squad and the cycle will only continue.

My question is where is the sport in this country headed? Because as far as I can see, it’s definitely not forward…

It’s absolutely ridiculous to apply this rule; and I’m not just saying this because the Hyderabad team has been severely affected. I’m saying it because I’m genuinely concerned about the future of women’s cricket in India.

It is still growing, and if we want to have a strong base it’s important our junior cricketers are taken care of. If that means they play Under 19 for more than four years, so be it! They only make the side in the first place because they’re good enough to be there. The more they play, the more they improve—it’s only natural.

I sincerely hope the appeal against the application of this rule is seriously considered… fingers crossed

Comments

  1. Mind Speaks14 September 2011 at 10:17

    Rightly said.. The ones who truly want womens' cricket to go upward certainly HATE this rule. Isn't it fun when you play more?????

    ReplyDelete
  2. sacshi18 September 2011 at 15:47

    wish we could play more games:(..

    ReplyDelete
  3. Shebani19 September 2011 at 20:43

    Well said... As usual...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anuja11 January 2012 at 19:45

    glad u came with this..first of all women cricketers hardly get any tournaments..to top it , a ridiculous rule...especially for women cricketers.. a talented girl for e.g who is about 12-13 yrs directly makes her debut in U-19 as there are no bcci tournaments below u-19 and in 4 yrs she has matured as a cricketer and she cannot play an age bracket tournament just because of some foolish rule... insane..

    ReplyDelete

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