Women’s cricket needs marketing and investment more than rule changes, states Shikha Pandey

Women’s cricket, in particular, in India has been on the ultimate peak post the success in the T20 World Cup Down Under, where they reached the final. Post that, calls have been to make women’s cricket simpler, with a notable men’s cricketers such as Dean Jones suggesting many changes to the existing rules. 

One of the changes that the Australian suggested was to reduce the size of the ball while calls also have been to reduce the boundary length. Downplaying the numerous suggestions, Indian pacer Shikha Pandey stated that women’s cricket is in need of more marketing and investment rather than these rule changes. 

“Growth can also be achieved by marketing the sport well. We don't have to tinker with rules or the very fabric of the game to attract an audience,” she tweeted on Saturday. 

Currently, women’s cricket, even at the biggest stage - the World Cup does not have the same DRS rules and regulations such as men’s cricket, with only one DRS per side per innings. She also suggested that having heavy investment at the grassroots level allows the sport to grow. 

“Why not have DRS, Snicko, Hotspot, all of the technical acumen and live broadcast for every game that we play anywhere in the world. Heavy investments at grass root levels, equal playing opportunities, zero discrimination etc,” she added. 

The pacer, in her thread on Twitter, also revealed the down effects of reducing the ball size. She reckoned that reducing its size is fine but it will only work if the weight remains the same. On top of that, the 31-year-old from Karimnagar lashed the suggestion of bringing the boundary ropes up. 

“Reducing the size of the ball is fine, but as Ian Smith suggested, it only works if the weight remains the same. This will allow for bowlers to grip the ball better - more revs for the spinners - and hits will also travel further (not be the case if it is light),” she added in the thread.

Additionally, the experienced pacer, who has played over 104 games for India, revealed that it is crucial to see women's cricket and men's cricket as a different sport altogether, without any comparison. 

"Please, don't compare women's sport, women's cricket, in this case, with men's sport. We need to see it as a different sport altogether... A sport that 86,174 spectators turned up to watch on March 8 and several million watched live on their television sets,"