“The Committee of Administrators decided on Monday, that for the first time, women’s cricketers would also be honoured with lifetime achievement awards,” said Diana Edulji, an Indian women’s cricket legend in her own right and part of the BCCI’s four-member administration team.





In a move that will potentially give much needed impetus to women's cricket in India, the BCCI under its committee of administrators has introduced the women's category in their lifetime achievement awards recognising the stellar contribution of women's cricket in the sport in India and the first awardee to this felicitation was Shantha Rangaswamy, felicitated on March 8, 2017, notably international women's day, at the BCCI annual awards ceremony.





So today, officially starting up with this weekly series -Down The Ground- where we would be going down the memory lanes to cherish and acknowledge some of the finest cricketing careers of the era gone by, Shantha Rangaswamy- The first lady of Indian Cricket is more than a perfect choice to start our journey with.









First Slip- The Early Days





Born on 1st January, 1954 in Madras(now Chennai) in a joint family of 20 cousins and to a mother soon widowed with seven daughters and no men in her immediate family, life had been less ordinary to this girl since her childhood.





Growing up as a teenager Shantha’s love towards sport is what pushed her to Cricket, on weekends the clan of 20 cousins would gather in their backyard to play some Tennis ball Cricket for the prizes like pencils, erasers etc. This was Shantha’s stepping stone in to the world of sports, she had also played Badminton for Karnataka and captained the State Softball team too yet Cricket was what was fascinated her most but to even call the Women’s Cricketing structure of that era as organised would be such an exaggeration because there was actually no real system in place!





A club called Falcons gathered girls like her as the state cricket association was formed and that made up the first team of Karnataka Women’s Cricket, in April 1973 the first Nationals were organised – Famous for being played by two and a half teams­­- Even Shantha’s teammates were unaware of the games happening just a few days before the event! Tells you the story of administration of that time. That said full fledged Nationals were organised six months later and Shantha was awarded as the best All-rounder. Those were the days of days of travelling unreserved in filthy trains but then the passion was what kept them going.













Second Slip- Why the First Lady?





The title refers to her as the “First Lady” of Indian Cricket and why I say that is because –





· Shantha Rangaswamy was the first Captain of Indian Women’s Cricket team.





· Shantha Rangaswamy was the first Indian Women’s captain to win a test match.





· Shantha rangaswamy was the first Centurion of Indian women’s Cricket.





· Shantha Rangaswamy was the First Indian women’s Cricketer to hit a six.





· And now Shantha rangaswamy becomes the first women to receive the newly introduced BCCI Lifetime achievement award for Women.









Third Slip – Bheem’s career at a glance

A right-handed batter, she scored 750 runs at a batting average of 32.6 in her 16 Test matches captaining twelve of them, with one century (108), which was the first century by Indian Women Cricketer against New Zealand on 08.01.1977 at Carisbrook, Dunedin. She also took 21 wickets bowling right arm medium pace at a bowling average of 31.61, including a best analysis of 4-42 against England.

In 19 ODIs, she scored 287 runs at 15.1, and took 12 wickets at 29.41. She recorded her best batting and bowling performances in ODIs at the Women's Cricket World Cup in New Zealand in 1982, scoring her only ODI fifty (out for 50) against New Zealand, and taking 3-25 against an International XI.

Such was the persona of Shantha Rangaswamy that every time she walked out to bat rolling up her sleeves with that big tall physique of almost 5’9”, the crowd erupted with the chants of “ Bheeem....Bheeeeeem” people say she could hit a six with just a mere Flick of her wrists and you add to that her wicked in-swingers she was nothing short of a lady Kapil Dev.

The records could have been a lot better had she not lost her prime years not playing due to mismanagement at the administrative level but again when you talk of her team and herself you do not talk about records, you talk about the legacy, the impact they had, they laid a strong foundation by putting up good international performances that helped the game survive initially and then flourish later because had they not performed, in a country like India the whole idea of women playing cricket would have been dismissed then and there.

Playing in the era of no physios, no doctors, no amenities and no one really to take care of their concerns, travelling in trains, sitting beside the compartment gates and toilets with their luggage and 16 women all on themselves with no reservations as they were rendered meaningless if a game finishes early or they last longer than expected in a tournament, these bunch of extraordinary women kept putting up world class performances and kept defeating top teams in the world all on their Expense!!! Yes all on their Expense! As the concept of paying women cricketers didn’t quite exist. Even the Arjuna Award that Shantha won in 1976 did not have any monetary prize back then and as she herself puts it, this lifetime achievement award was the first monetary benefit that she received in her career! Though she did receive some gifts like a luna scooter once! Tells a lot about their struggle but then there is this word “passion” and “passion for cricket” this bunch of extraordinary ladies define it the best! These ladies are the ”founding mothers” of Indian Cricket in true sense! Hats off to them!

Death Overs-

The Board of Control for Cricket in India took over the women’s game in the country from the Women’s Cricket Association of India in 2006. The fact that it took more than a decade for them to implement a lifetime achievement award for female cricketers does not escape Rangaswamy’s attention. “It is her long overdue recognition,” and the fact that it took a committee appointed by Supreme Court and a lady cricketer herself in that committee to implement something like this explains us how ignorant BCCI had been to women’s cricket even the central contracts for women were introduced very recently, making BCCI the last of major cricket administration bodies across the world to implement central contracts for women. Amongst all the difficulties the women cricketers of this country keep performing, keep going about their business in anonymity, hats off to their spirit and their dedication and passion for the game! We salute you!





Extra Innings!-

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