Shaz, a mother of two pre-teens who moved to Birmingham as a child but never socialised over sport, had a slantways entry into Britain’s’sports-watching’ culture.
“When the men’s teams play, my husband takes the kids to Edgbaston.” “But I wanted to come along and watch because the Pakistan women were playing,” she said of her first visit to a stadium not far from her home, but one she never expected to walk into, despite having only a passing interest in the sport.
England has been swept up in a women’s sports wave over the last week, with the football team becoming European Women’s champions after defeating Germany in the final. “It’s not like I was stopped. But I was never interested in watching men’s cricket. But Indian women vs Pakistan women was something I didn’t want to miss,” says the mother, who was outnumbered at least five to one by Indian families who flocked to Edgbaston, including a group who came down from London to introduce their young daughters to the sport.
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It is a given that India-Pakistan will be scheduled as a pool game at any major cricket event. The Commonwealth Games, on the other hand, were banking on a Sunday blockbuster, hoping that the women’s game would draw the large Birmingham diaspora into the stadium. Nobody could have predicted how shockingly one-sided it would eventually be, with Indian fans outscreaming Pakistan fans as their team annihilated Pakistan’s hopes with an 8-wicket victory.
𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑!
Clinical with the ball & splendid with the bat, 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐏𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧 by 8 wickets in their 2nd Commonwealth Games match. 👏 👏
Vice-captain @mandhana_smriti smashes 63*. 🙌 🙌
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/6xtXSkd1O7 #B2022 #TeamIndia #INDvPAK pic.twitter.com/MVUX3yFO4s
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) July 31, 2022
India stuck to their bowling plans, and then Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Varma kept it clinical for a relatively easy win with a chance to advance. Pakistan lacked firepower without the injured Nida Dar and was easily beaten. This game was significant for the Games because of the anticipation of getting bums on seats.
Women’s cricket can entice ‘family crowds’ – women and children who aren’t always enamoured with cricket but are fascinated by young women participating in team sports and turning up to watch them – and there was no better city to target that South Asian base than Birmingham, with its ethnic composition.
Significantly more to Pak
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Barney, a British Pakistani from Worcestershire, runs ‘Kempsey,’ a “Asian-only” club where his daughter plays cricket on a girls’ team they are putting together. He travelled to Birmingham with other members of his club, including Hindus and Sikhs, to learn how to grow his women’s team. “Due to the dress code, there are several restrictions on women participating in sports in our community.” However, because cricket is played fully clothed, it was easier to persuade my daughter to participate. It’s fantastic to see the Pakistan team play and show our girls that anything is possible. Sure, little girls have been fans of men’s teams for years. But things change when they have to start playing. Watching Harmanpreet (Kaur) and (Smrit) Mandhana of India, as well as Nida Dar, are role models, according to Barney.
“We Indians and Pakistanis do things together here.” We socialise, have coworkers from other countries, and eat together. We also enjoy watching cricket together. “If we can fill any stadium, why not for the girls?” he asks.
Pakistan won gold at the Asian Games in 2010, and then-captain and top bowler Sana Mir stated that the gold in the 50-over format taught Pakistan that women could win big in sports. The follow-up didn’t happen, but for a country devoid of top-level female athletes, T20 cricket is the most obvious bet for things to get serious.
Malala Yousufzai made an appearance to the Pakistan dressing room following their loss to Barbados, and a sizable crowd stayed to watch both role models – in sport and education – up close. “Women’s cricket deserves to become a popular sport in its own right.” “I only came to the Games because it was women’s and India-Pakistan,” Shaz explains.
Harman: a battle we’ve won
With Pakistan in Birmingham and the general joy of the Games, the number of Indian fans who flocked in on Sunday, hoping to catch another Harman blinder, was enormous. The Indian captain’s 2017 World Cup semifinal innings against Australia are legendary, but after the win on Sunday, Harman admitted to another fight women have won.
“When I first started playing cricket, there were no spectators. I knew it would be a battle to get people to come in and watch us. It can’t be because they want to help “women.” To draw crowds, we needed to perform and entertain, as well as play good matches and win. “Now I can say, ‘We’re doing that,'” she’d say.
Young girls would approach her and tell her they aspired to be like her. “It makes me happy when they say we’re the reason they want to play cricket,” she says.
While the crowd remained partisan, both sides’ cricket was appreciated. “I want my daughter to learn from both India and Pakistan.” We can’t just stand in the stands and cheer on the men’s teams. They need to be in the centre, hitting big sixes and being applauded.”
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