Finale Of The Four Innings?

The pitiful demise, by market consensus, of women’s Test cricket

- Qaiser Mohammad Ali

Rarely have beginnings deemed so propitious proved so transient, when hope beckoned for so many, then gave up hope. When India’s T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur, dazzling left-handed batter Smriti Mandhana and their seven other teammates made Test debut in the one-off match against South Africa in 2014 in Mysore, little did they know that it would turn out to be their last Test as well? For South Africa, all eleven players made their debut. The two players with Test experience were India captain Mithali Raj and speedster Jhulan Goswami.

Neither India nor South Africa have played another Test since; there is no plan for one too. So, barring a sudden change of heart by administrators, the match at the Gangothri Glades Ground in November 2014 could go down as the last one to be played by India—and most probably by South Africa as well.

Women’s Test cricket, which began way back in 1934, had slipped into a coma many years ago in most major countries. These numbers prove its moribund state: Sri Lanka has played a solitary Test in their entire history, and that was 21 years ago in 1998! The West Indies, Pakistan, and New Zealand’s last Tests were staged 19 years ago, in 2004. This year, only one Test has been played, as part of the England-Australia Ashes series, and none is scheduled for 2019.

Saba Karim, BCCI general manager (cricket operations), says Test matches are not on India’s agenda. “It’s very difficult to comment on the stage. Our bilateral series involve ODIs and T20s,” the former Test wicket-keeper tells Outlook.

Vinod Rai, till recently the head of the Committee of Administrators that administered the BCCI, says his panel didn’t get into Test cricket. “We couldn’t start it on our own; a Test has to be played with another country and the ICC arranges those matches. The CoA had no representation in the ICC,” he explains.