More TESTS, more WINS..

More tests will mean more joy for India women.

Test cricket may be the best way to move Indian women's cricket forward.

You heard me right. Test cricket.  Not the swashbuckling abridged version of cricket that is T20. I have just surprised myself by saying that. Until recently, I was a big proponent of T20s as the best medium to promote women's cricket in India. But after the Wormsley test, I gave it some thought, and I have changed my mind. Here's why.

As of today, Test cricket is the Indian women's cricket teams strongest format. 

Every team has a preferred or natural format. The Indian men's team just showed that, with table turning wins against England in the ODIs (after having had to hide under the same table in the tests). The English women's team themselves are a really good ODI side, but in T20s, you have got to give it to Australia's Southern stars. For India women, its gotta be tests.

Reasons?

To win a test you must be able to bowl the opposition out twice. Assuming that the wickets for women's tests would most likely be result oriented, there would be some seam, swing, bounce ,or turn . And India have the bowling options for all of the above. In Jhulan Goswami, India have an experienced pace spear head, who hits the deck hard. And Niranjana, Shikha, and Shubhlakshmi proved at Wormsley that they have the skills to exploit favourable conditions. Add the loop of  Gouher Sultana (who missed this tour due to illness) and unpredictable turn of Ekta bisht, and India have spinning options aplenty. 

But most importantly, test cricket provides the perfect cocoon to nurture India's batting strengths and, more importantly, nestle it's weaknesses. Indian batting is currently more about timing and placement than power hitting. Thats fine for tests. The longer format allows Indian batsmen to take their time to settle down, without the run rate causing any panic. They can wait for the lose ball, and the skill to put it away was always there. They can turn down those cheeky runs and bide their time. They can wage a war of attrition, and make merry when the bowers tire. For dot balls matter less in tests.

Now to fielding. After the first ODI against England this series, former Aussie all rounder Lisa Sthalekar tweeted ,''India has never given time to fielding and it shows". In the next game, the Indian girls fielded brilliantly. That's often the case with Indian fielding. Inconsistently brilliant. These small factors count for a lot in the shorter formats, but again in tests, with more spread out fields, the odd misfield is less likely to cost a team a win.

So coming back to the theory that opened the innings for this post. test cricket might be the best format to promote women's cricket in India. 'cos lets be honest. This is sport. There are no prizes for coming second. No one remembers you, no one commemorates you, and the opposition only half mean it when they say "well played" at the end of a game. They are too busy planning their party.

Nothing promotes a game better than a team that wins. A win demands to be seen. England women got the attention with back to back Ashes wins.The Southern stars won three consecutive world T20 titles, and became the highest paid female sports team in Australia. India have won back-to-back tests in England, albeit eight years apart, and I strongly feel they will win more in this format. And those wins will help the game grow. But how many will they get to play?

There has long been a perception that the BCCI will only pay attention to the women's team if and when they win. Its happened in a test, and it will happen more often if the BCCI cajole the other willing bedfellows; England and Australia; to schedule  frequent test matches. Clare Connor, visionary head of women's cricket at the ECB, recently said that the future of women's tests is hanging by a thread. India have a lot to gain by moving to preserve that future.

Of course this is not to suggest that if we do play tests, we shouldn't raise our standard in the other formats. Globally, T20 cricket is the vehicle that will drive the growth of the women's game, so India must become a world class T20 team. Athleticism and agility need to be long term occupants, not frequent guests. And sustainable power hitting must marry form and timing. This onus lies on us, the current crop of domestic players, to raise the bar.

But alongside that, the BCCI must realise what it's women's team's strengths are, and play to them.

Flashback! : The Triumph of 2006

2006.

That was the  last time the Indian Women's Team played a test match.

They played two actually. At Leicester and Taunton.

Against England. A team who had just blanked them in the ODI series 4-0.

But they had some history by their side. The last time they played a test against England in England, Mithali Raj scored an unbeaten 214, then a world record.

More records would be broken. More history would be made.

Mostly, by Jhulan Goswami.

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Leicester

The first test played there seemed destined to end in a draw. As a Cricinfo report at the end of the second day said "this test has got bore-draw written all over it."

India managed a lead of 75 in the first innings, only for Claire Taylor to wipe it out, stroking 115 in her second dig. England led by 270, with just under a day left for India to bat out.

India had batted laboriously in the first innings. The pitch was slow. It didn't seem too much of an ask, until India lost three of the top four for ducks. At 74-6, India seemed to have gifted England a series lead. Then all-rounders Amita Sharma and Rumeli Dhar banished all such thoughts with fighting half centuries. Along with Jhulan goswami, India's pace trio would combine to cause England much grief with both ball and  bat.(Jhulan Goswami had scored 69 in the first innigs, after a surprise promotion to bat at no. 3)

England 0, India 0.


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Taunton

2006 was the year that Taunton, venue for the second test, was christened the Home of Women's Cricket in England.

Jhulan Goswami certainly felt at home there.

India batted first and used two wicketkeepers to open the innings (although only Karuna Jain later donned the gloves.) The wicketkeepers gave India a watchful start. 38 runs and a blunt new ball later, Sulakshana Naik fell. Two runs later, so did Jain. 40-2. Suddenly not such a watchful start.

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Anjum Chopra and Jhulan Goswami had been team mates at Air India since Jhulan was a wayward teenage  tearaway. They were two of the handful of women cricketers who Air India offered permanent jobs, and combined to script many a victory for Air India against arch rivals Railways. So it seemed fitting that Anjum  shine with the bat in this match, even if her showing was to be eclipsed by Jhulan's with the ball. Anjum Chopra made 98, agonisingly short of a richly deserved century. By the time she was dismissed, India had recovered from being 40-2 and eventually crossed the psychological barrier of 300.

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The pitch was not a bowler's paradise. In India's 1st innings, Isa Guha bowled more than 40 overs. In England's second innings, Nooshin Al Khadeer  bowled 37 overs. Preedi dimri and Amita Sharma bowled 61 overs between them. It was that kind of pitch. Which is exactly why Jhulan Goswami's 1st innings figures of 13-4-33-5 were incredible.

To say she sliced through the top order is not an exaggeration. She allowed none of the top three to reach double figures. She came back to pick up the resilient Edwards, who batted low due to illness. To get a measure of the quality of her wickets we need no highlights or eye witness accounts. We only need to read the scorecard. LBW, caught behind and bowled. Beaten, edged, and knocked over. Classic fast bowlers wickets. And she was bowling fast.

At the other end, Amita Sharma and Rumeli Dhar were doing what they did best : swinging it. Each picked up a pair of wickets, again either LBW or caught behind, and the Indian fast bolwers cartel had nine wickets between them. England were blanked out for 99 in 51 overs. For the first time ever against India, England followed on.

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Somewhere out there, I imagine,  is a benevolent spirit who watches in admiration over every record that is broken in cricket. The Indian Women had just summoned it. And perhaps it lingered on, having heard that Indians  are such good hosts, and I further imagine it would not have been disappointed.

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In the 1st test at Leicester, Laura Newton and Claire Taylor had scored more than 200 runs between them. But at Taunton, with England following on, they were both gone. England were 34-2, still 173 runs away from an innings defeat. The Indian girls may have thought they had a foot in the door of victory. The England captain Charlotte Edwards had other ideas.

She combined with Caroline Atkins to almost shut India out of the match, with a mammoth 178 run partnership, Edwards reaching her century in the last over of the third day. They tired the Indian attack, who were toiling desperately to create history. They batted out the rest of the day, even defying the second new ball. England needed to survive day four to save the test, and had eight wickets in hand.

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c Chopra b Goswami

A familiar sight on the Indian Domestic circuit. Usually at first slip for Air India, Anjum Chopra had arguably the best view of India's fastest bowler (besides maybe the batsmen ) in the  days before the BCCI took over. She was perfectly positioned to accept and edges that Jhulan's late movement drew, lest they elude the 'keeper.

Anjum's 98 runs had set up this match and given the bowlers a total to bowl at. And Jhulan's fifer had brought them this close. It seemed fitting that India's hope  be renewed on the fourth morning by Anjum taking the catch when Jhulan dismissed Edwards, after adding only five runs to her overnight score.

Edwards c Chopra b Goswami

Amita Sharma proved once again to be the perfect foil by removing Atkins, and the rest followed after some resistance, Nooshin Al Khadeer's persistent off spin claimed three well set middle order scalps, and Jhulan returned to haunt the tail.

Her 2nd innings figures read 36-21-45-5

Match figures of 49.2-25-78-10

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Its hard to keep Mithali Raj out of any game involving India. Opposition teams would love to do that. Indian teams would probably love it even more, but on only a handful of occasions has the team prevented the onus from falling on Mithali. Even more rarely has she failed to deliver.

The 2nd test was India's for the taking. The target was 98. Everyone knew England had scored just 99 in their 1st innings. Anything was possible. It was a 4th day pitch. It was last innings of the Test. It was the last innings of the series. England were giving it everything. They had absolutely nothing to lose.

The experiment of opening the innings with Rumeli Dhar had failed. But the two wicketkeepers again proved useful. Runs were scored, some confident, some nervous. Suddenly, three wickets fell within three runs of one another. But Mithali Raj was still at the crease.

She scored 22 not out. Little more than one third of her 1st innings score of 65. But three times more important. India reached 98 for the loss of 5 wickets.

India won.

In 2006.
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The Spirit of breaking records departed from Taunton as a thoroughly satisfied guest.

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The author was neither present nor has she spoken to anyone involved in these events. The above piece has been produced purely on the basis of scorecards and reports of those times.  Any accusations of national bias and rose tinted admiration for Jhulan Goswami are altogether accurate. 

That '90s show: What the Indian women's cricket team can take from the men.

The '90s were a time when the Indian team's batting was often single-handedly carried by this man.  Its not unlike what Mithali Raj does for the women's team today.

As Virendra Sehwag stole the show with a pleasantly unexpected hundred a few nights ago in the IPL semi final, commentators were awash with praise for him. Harsha Bhogle could not stop saying how Sehwag was peeling back the years and turning back the clock. Those phrases got me thinking, not about Sehwag's wonder years in particular, but about a period a decade earlier, the '90s of Indian cricket.

If you, like me, were born around the time of India's first World Cup victory back in 1983, you only heard about it as legend. A fairy tale almost, one whose protagonists have almost all faded into the obscurity of lore (or retirement, as its sometimes known). Much like a child asking his father after a bed time story,"Daddy, what does prince charming do nowadays?", such were the lenses through which we looked upon that seminal upset victory at Lord's, wondering where those heroes are now.

By the time we started recording our earliest memories, the '90s were around, and new heroes had appeared. Flesh and blood ones. Azhar was making Hyderabad famous for its wrists, Sachin was many-a-times the only one scoring runs, Srinath was showing that he could swing it both ways, and Kumble was redefining the speeds at which a spin bowler bowled.  Along with an overseas test win, the fairy tale of 1983 was the ideal that these flesh and blood heroes aspired to.

And while I was thinking about that page in our story book when our team was famously talented and infamously inconsistent, I couldn't help feel that in many ways, our women's team of today is stuck on the same page. Most opponents admit that we (that is the women's team) have talented players, often more talent than they do, but don't have a winning team. Like the men were, we are often over dependent on one player to score the runs. We're sometimes labelled as poor chasers, like the men often were. Strong throws, athletic fielding and urgent running between wickets are more of an  exception rather than the rule, just like our creaky-kneed '90s male counterparts. And the pace bowling attack has been a one woman show for a while now. Drawing this comparison is difficult process, because it is, first and foremost, an admission of my own hand in the current state of affairs, or the lack of it.

But I am not trying to paint a bleak picture here. Lets not forget how much Indian cricket changed post the '90s. After passing through the baptism by fire of match fixing, Indian cricket slowly started building towards its peak in 2011. With the BCCI's financial backing,  professional support staff appeared, and a paradigm shift in culture was noticeable. A change in leadership, both on the field and off it, wrought a new mindset among players and fans alike. Suddenly, in the Wright-Ganguly era, we all believed. A brood of fitter, faster youngsters snapping at the senior's heels meant Indian cricket was only going one way : Up. By the time Kirsten-Dhoni took over, we were world class. 

After a string of poor performances at the international level, both home and away, hopefully Indian women's cricket's graph will follow a similar curve. The doldrums of the '90s must give way to the genesis of a new fate. The ingredients are all there. Younger, fitter players have been proving their international credentials over the past couple of years, and some prodigal talent is bubbling under the surface. Only a catalyst is required. Just as the men went from being a one man batting line up to a team with a big three and a big four, the women have the quality to find themselves similarly positioned.

The chessboard is all set for a transformation. Pawns are fast being anointed  knights, bishops, and castles. They are all guarding the lone queen's flanks in her tireless attack. But the proverbial King holds all the keys. He hardly moves on the board, yet all the others move to his tune. Here's hoping that he knows the value of his pieces.

Audience Episode 1 : Fevicol and the WT20 semi final 2014

So yesterday, I had a ball watching  India clinically oust South Africa and clinch a place in yet another world event final. Not only did I enjoy the Indian victory, but more so the humorous circumstances that I found myself watching it in. And before I outline what transpired, it struck me that we all must have our own audience episodes; stories surrounding memorable matches we have witnessed, and they would make an interesting series of blog posts. So here's the first of hopefully many more such stories. Do post your own in the comments.

After spending the afternoon at a friend's place watching a one sided women's semifinal, I decided to step out and visit the spiritual center I frequently frequent before the men's semi started. I knew I wouldn't be able to watch the second innings, as I was slated to meet my mother and brother later in the evening. So I was keen to get back soon and get cozy in front of the tv before my loving (but cricket indifferent) kin gave me a call. It so happened that I stayed in the center a tad longer than I planned, and by the time I left, play had already been called, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar had picked up a wicket in his first over, and my mind was already on my spot on the floor of my friends house in front of her tv. But since I had to meet my folks in an hour or so, travelling to and fro would waste precious overs! It was then that I spotted a tv set (actually five of them) staring at me through the glass of an electronics shop in a mall on my right.

So I took my place on the footpath among the small crowd that had already gathered there and watched a couple of overs. But being the only woman in that crowd which was starting to get agitated (Hashim Amla was on song), I thought why not just go inside the electronics store and enjoy a better view,and some free air conditioning.

Window shopping is always a pleasurable endeavour, and pretending to window shop while watching Ashwin bowl is even better. The delivery he produced to castle Amla was really something else, and my spontaneous reaction to that ball is probably what alerted a shop attendant of my real motives!

Thereafter, said shop attendant stuck to me like she was auditioning for a Fevicol commercial!  Her proximity could have given assisted shopping a bad name!

"What in particular were you looking for ma'am?"

"Umm, just some flute music..", I replied sheepishly, desperately clutching on to whatever was in the cd rack opposite me.

Purely to get her off my back,  I even turned away from the telly for a whole over and pretended to be mentally debating which cd was musically superior, Hari Prasad Chaurasia or some Indo-western dude I've never heard of( not like I know a lot about Hari Prasad Chaurasia; I had to wiki him to make sure he's a flute player, or my musical genius of a brother would never let me hear the end of it.)

But Fevicol wasnt fooled. As I drifted from flute cds to old hindi films, she promptly walked to the counter, furtively picked up the remote, and blanked the tv screens! A collective groan wafted through the glass windows, as the not-so-small-any-more crowd standing on the footpath were deprived of their sustenance. Before they realised I was the cause of their misery, I hurriedly bought myself a pair of headphones, the tv came back on, and sanity prevailed again. (That is until Amit Mishra started bowling; heaven knows what he ate for lunch! )

Then I decided to push my luck. As I was discussing the six month warranty my new headphones came with, I asked the shop owner if I could now hang around and watch the match.  Sure, he says, himself more interested in the game than the customers.  So, after flashing Fevicol a wicked imaginary smile, I enjoyed the free air conditioning for the rest of the South African innings undisturbed.  Eventually I started chatting cricket with the owner, who turned out to be a sweet fellow, and when he found out I had played internationally myself, he ordered me a cup of tea.:)

(Fevicol, if you're reading this,  please note : that's how you treat a cricket fan. Don't worry, I wont stick to my grudge against you; all's well that ends well.)

PS : Although family commitments meant I couldn't watch India bat (criminal, I know), the evening did involve me sneaking away from maternal clutches for a while and landing up in a sports shop in front of their resident tv. That was until my mother showed up to fetch me. Vile of her, pulling a small child out of a candy store like that!

(Incidentally, no one in the sports shop was surprised when I told them I just dropped in to watch the match. I love this country.)

Sky and Seam : The Dreams of Shikha Pandey

It was Holly Colvin's shock announcement that she would take an indefinite break from women's cricket to pursue other career options that inspired this post. As I was reading it, one name kept reverberating in the recesses of my not so distant memory. That name was Shikha Pandey. Or as she goes nowadays, Flying Officer Shikha Pandey.

Shikha Pandey in action in a domestic match

This is not an attempt at creating India's own Holly Colvin story, although the competitive nature of the game in our country and the secondary role traditionally assigned to women in our society will ensure that we have plenty of those. Shikha's story has its own stand-alone qualities. "Dream on, little dreamer", is what her whats app status said some time back. But what does one do when ones heart and mind is big enough for not one compelling, all-consuming dream, but two?

 Shikha, like Holly, had a strong educational background. While Holly studied natural sciences, Shikha is an engineer. That itself makes her a rare breed in the Indian women's cricket fraternity, and I dare say Indian sports in general. Few have successfully balanced the dual commitments of sports and academics, particularly in India's university culture which is unashamedly in favour of the latter (Anjum Chopra and Anil Kumble are a couple of cricketers who come to mind). But the parallels between Shikha and Holly stop there. While Holly represented England at the record breaking age of 15, and was the cornerstone of their spin bowling department for eight years, Shikha, now aged 24, is yet to represent her country. But that could soon change.

 I digress. Shikha's story lies not in her numerous and commendable accomplishments in the classroom or even on the field, but in the ambitious and limitless scale of her dreams. This young girl, who dreams of wearing the India cap someday, first dreamed that she could fly. Before she wanted to bowl her inswingers for India, she wanted to be a pilot.

Shikha was always fascinated by the thought of the Air Force. The idea of flying fails to inspire no one, and for her, serving ones country was the icing on the cake. The fact that her father teaches Hindi in a Kendriya Vidyalaya (Central School) in Goa, which by and large caters to children of servicemen, on a naval campus no less, could have a lot to do with her patriotic bend of mind. So the little dreamer in her started dreaming, and mapping her life out towards that dream. Engineering was her choice of route, and she was well on her way to getting there, when the audacious happened. She dreamt again. In a cricket mad country like India, thanks to the endless conversations that her father would have with her about the then Indian team, Shikha Pandey dreamt of serving her country by playing cricket.

Shikha only started playing cricket under the BCCI umbrella in the second year of her four year degree. Before that her cricketing encounters had been confined to matches with the boys in the noisy, congested gullies outside her home and on the idyllic, sandy beaches of Goa. When eventually introduced to the Goa Cricket Association, she took to the leather ball game like a fish to water. She quickly established herself as a big contributor in the otherwise small world of Goa Women's Cricket, and a love for the game had been imprinted on her soul (for further proof, see her blog). Her exploits with ball and bat saw her regularly included in South Zone sides and she soon made her first appearance in the Challenger Trophy. 

Things were looking up, and Shikha realised that she had a credible and time bound opportunity to represent the country. Credible, because her potential as a future India prospect had been established, and time bound, because she knew she couldn't play cricket forever. So, after completing her degree, she took the difficult decision of putting her dreams of flying on hold for a year, and threw in her lot with cricket.

 It looked to be the best call of her life. After a good domestic season with Goa, she was rewarded with an inclusion in the top 20 players shortlisted for a home series against the visiting West Indes women. She also played against them, representing India ‘A’. She was just one step away from wearing that coveted India cap.

 In the long off season that followed, she spent her days studying for her Air Force entrance exams, and her nights dreaming of what the future may hold in store. A tour to England was scheduled in the coming months, and her engineering bred logic told her that they would need an extra pace bowler, especially one who could swing the ball. So she waited, and she hoped. So all-consuming was her ambition, that she considered putting all other plans, including her Air force exams, on immediate hold if she was needed in England.

But the uncertainty of sports is supreme. She did not find herself on the plane to England, and the year she had given herself had not yielded the kind of returns that she had hoped for. Fate had told her that her time had not yet come, and perhaps she had deluded herself by dreaming these two compelling yet conflicting dreams. So, she did a Colvin, and hit her books with a determined mind and a heavy heart, knowing that a demanding Air Force career meant she may never be able to play cricket again. 

She did crack the entrance exams, and although she could not pursue her ambition of becoming a pilot, was drafted into the demanding and technical role of air traffic controller. This was a conscious decision, for after completing a yearlong training programme designed to reinvent cadets into officers, she could have chosen a comfortable administrative role on the ground. This would even have given her some breathing space to play cricket again. But she wasn't the types to take the easy way out. She wanted to be in the thick of things, even if that meant a posting in a busy fighter base in north India; farther from home, with more workload, night shifts, and an almost foreign climate (for someone used to the sun and sand of Goa). But she chose the road less traveled, her choice synonymous with her favourite Frost poem. And so it was, that with her family watching, she was re-christened; and in a way reborn, as Flying Officer Shikha Pandey.

And she wasn't finished yet.

There are bookworms, and there are cricket worms, the latter being the more stubborn of the species. Shikha never gave up on her dream of playing for India, and her kit bag was a queer and conspicuous companion whenever she traveled. Queer, for you rarely see them around Air Force bases, and conspicuous because, well anyone who has seen a cricket kit bag knows what I’m talking about. With the cooperation of the Services Sports Control Board, and guidance from senior officers and other Services sportspeople, she managed enough leaves to play the domestic season. In her first season back after joining the Air Force, her time away from the game was painfully visible. Her second, however, showcased a player posing difficult questions to the selectors.

In the first game of the season in the new Elite-Plate format, Shikha scalped five wickets against a hapless Haryana. And in the T20 leg, she shone with both bat and ball to help Goa qualify for the Plate group knock outs. All season long, her performances had impressed both the selectors and her superiors, and when the former picked her in the probables for the World T20 in Bangladesh, she was felicitated by the Chief of Air Staff on Republic Day, the only lady officer to receive that honour. 

The end of the recent domestic season meant back to work for Shikha; a return to the fast paced and exciting world of night flying and sorties. But she could not get her mind off the upcoming World T20. She yearned to know what cards fate would deal her this time, seeking clarity and perhaps closure. When the call did come, she was thankfully off duty, and didn't have to return to her post. She had been included in the Indian women’s cricket team for a bilateral series against Bangladesh, followed by the World T20 there (Team List here courtesy of Sportskeeda). Her fellow officers shared in her joy as they saw her off, and her parents beamed as she met them in Goa, where she would prepare to help try and reverse India's fortunes in women's cricket. 

This post represents a hope that girls all over the world will learn that like Shikha, and also dual international Ellyse Perry, we needn't bury one dream to chase another. We needn't neglect academics to play sports. And we need not be afraid; the real world is a scary place, but its big enough for all our dreams.

 P.S. : At the time of publishing this post, Shikha has played all three T20 matches against Bangladesh and is now looking ahead to the World T20. 

With her debut, she became the first Goa Cricket Association cricketer, male or female, to represent the country.  It also makes her the first Services employee to play for India, although she has not represented the Services in domestic cricket as they do not field a women's team. Here's hoping her selection will change that. 

Shikha being felicitated by the Goa Cricket Assn.

11 yards down : Womens One Day season review

As I get down to writing this post (finally! ), the women's cricket season is at the half way mark, with the one day matches all concluded. Here's a very quick run down of the highlights!

The season began with a mixture of optimism and cynicism about the new format (see my last post). I for one, am not going to complain. Yes, my team played one match less than we did last year, but we played all our matches against more competitive teams than last year, so quality wins over quantity. The system works well for a team that finishes in the top two of a pool, which isn't a given anymore, as opposed to last season. The competition can only be good for women's cricket. The introduction of Kukaburra balls gave the pace bowlers more teeth (*wide wicked grin), and rarely did a couple of wickets not fall in the first 10 overs.

I liked the fact that the top four teams in the Elite group play another round robin league stage (The Super League), but would love for the the winner to be decided by a final rather than points. Not nice to have an annoying thing like net run rate deciding who wins, a final would be a lot cleaner.

Railways came out on top in the Elite division, remaining undefeated, mostly thanks to the efforts of their bowlers. Ekta Bisht (27 wickets), Shubhlaxmi Sharma (18) and Gouher Sultana (28) were the wreckers in chief. Southpaw Shweta Jadhav notched up the only century in the elite division in the league phase, while Anuja Patil and yours truly  picked up five-fors. Uttar Pradesh took the second spot after a three way tie was resolved by NRR.

The Plate division did not have the luxury of round robin matches. The top six teams played each other in knock outs, with two teams getting byes in their quarter finals. Bengal finished winners, leading an East zone 1-2, with Odhisa second.

The inter zonals were held at Baroda, where spinners wreaked havoc on the red soil pitches. Low scoring games, early wickets and late surges were a common feature of all the encounters. Central zone defended their title, winning all their round robin matches. North zone, on the back of some brilliant bowling by left arm spinner Priti Bose, clinched second spot.

Ranchi hosted the Challenger Trophy, marking the first major women's tournament to be held at that ground. This tournament ;which used to be a collection of the 45 best cricketers in the country split into three teams; changed its format last year with an U-19 team replacing India Green (my thoughts on that later). In the final, India Blue chased down India Red's total of 183 easily to win the trophy. The stand out of the tournament though, was India U-19 captain Smriti Mandhana, who roared back into form after an indifferent senior season. Her 91 and 96* guided valiant chases, although both innings ended in losing causes. But they did quash any doubts about her ability to score big at the senior level.

Ring out the old, ring in the new : Women's Domestic Season Preview

Tamil Nadu will miss the services of Niranjana, who will turn out for Indian railways this season.

Change is the flavour of the year it seems, with the BCCI introducing sweeping changes in the women's domestic format. Their decision to conduct all matches with white ball and in coloured kit has drawn wide cheers, and is a step in the right direction, since India do not play tests at the international level. While there is a lot of excitement around this move ('Which colour is your team wearing?'; 'Did they spell my name right on my shirt?'; 'I wanted jersey number eight!') some serious questions are still unanswered. Like why the BCCI has still not adopted the most recent international playing conditions in women's domestic matches? (Still only one new ball, still 5 fielders allowed outside the ring in the middle overs.) Likewise, the new domestic structure has left many disappointed, with the overall number of matches being reduced. It remains to be seen as to whether this new design reaps different results, so judgement shall be reserved (audible sigh of relief from the board :-P).

So this year the regional zone wise matches have been scrapped, with all teams in the national mix, at different levels. The top 10 teams will comprise the Elite division, which is split into pools A and B, and the bottom 15 will make up the Plate division, with three pools A,B,and C. Each division will have separate semi-finals and finals,based on league stage performances. One-dayers will be played in December, followed by the T20s in January. Add only the inter zonal tournament and the Challenger trophy, and we get a much shorter domestic season. The show will wrap up by the end of January, leaving the Women in Blue enough time to prepare for the T20 World Cup in March. Unconfirmed rumours that the T20 leg of the season will be postponed point to the possibility of an international series before the World Cup ( if there were just whispers before, there will be rumours now B-)).

Change is also the buzzword as far as team composition goes. Defending champs Indian Railways have called up new players and will field a young but strong squad, including N. Niranjana and wicketkeeper Anagha Deshpande. The trend of players switching states has grown even stronger this year. Veteran Amita Sharma will be turning out for Assam,and Rajasthan have roped in Jaya Sharma and Rumeli Dhar, both coming back from injury. Maharashtra too have a new look squad and opener Smriti Mandhana will be the cynosure after scoring an unprecedented 1,057 runs in 14 matches of U19 cricket, with four centuries and one double hundred. She also lead Maharashtra U19 to the finals, sharing the honours with Assam, that match ending in a thrilling tie. Maharashtra will be hoping she can repeat her almost Herculean success at the senior level too. Last year's one day runner-up Uttar Pradesh and T20 runner-up Hyderabad will also look to mount strong challenges in the Elite division.

The battle in the Plate division will be keenly fought, with many teams getting their first taste of national exposure. With no clear favorites, all the teams have everything to play for.

White ball cricket tends to throw up more than a few surprises, so this season will be one to watch out for. Besides the players, this new structure is also being tested. It's not all good news, but some of it isn't bad at all.

Let's play (white) ball.

Stats courtesy Sudhir Aly @ Cricket Archive