India women cricket team reached the finals of ICC World Cup 2017 and missed out on winning the maiden title by a whisker. The coverage was huge. A record number of people watched the final of the World Cup — the highest number in the history of the tournament. That was the last ODI, the Mithali Raj-led Team India played in 2017 on June 23. Since then, they have not played a single ODI against any team.
After a gap of 226 days, Team India is playing an ODI on their tour of South Africa, but there is no telecast or live streaming on any of the channels. On the contrary, the India Men vs South Africa Men series is being telecast in two languages in India.
The advertisement, ’25 saal ka badla’ surfaced almost a month before the star of series. While there were shows analyzing and anticipating what is to come in the series, the coverage on women’s tour is almost negligible.
The Board of Control of Cricket (BCCI) posts videos and pictures of the live matches on a regular basis. The Twitter account is filled with updates of the match. Whereas BCCI Women Twitter account gets updates in an interval of 10-15 overs. That is in contrast to Cricket South Africa’s real-time and more frequent updates.
The ignorance of women international matches also attracted criticism from Twitterati:
Its rather unfortunate that the women’s ODI between India and SAF isn’t being telecast.
So much for us saying Revolution etc. @BCCI @ICC— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) February 5, 2018
Our girls are doing so well in their field so why it will not be appreciated by the board. Come on India #RaiseYourVoice #INDWvSAW 🏏🔝👏
— Ipsita Roy (@imIRoy18) February 6, 2018
.@BCCI .@BCCIWomen
I know nobody is interested in coverage, but can we at least have periodic update about Team India from today's #SAWvINDW match?— Abhishek Mukherjee (@ovshake42) February 5, 2018
Very disappointing that @SPNSportsIndia decides not to telecast the @BCCIWomen vs @OfficialCSA women's matches. Can't be any worse.
— Bastab K Parida (@ParidaBastab) February 5, 2018
There was a court ruling that #INDvSA matches be telecast in Doordarshan as well. They got it done.
So what about the #INDWvSAW matches then? Why the bias? There's no telecast at all 😡😡😡
Why @BCCI ?@BCCIWomen— PK (@iPkoppula) February 5, 2018
Why @BCCI why?
Why @BCCIWomen why?
By doing these things how can you promote women's game?@sachin_rt this is really shame on the program like #KheloIndia
ये तो वही बात हो गयी कि चार दिन की चाँदनी फिर अँधेरी रात!!! pic.twitter.com/22I0O7yORE— Aye Babua LGTV 🏳️🌈 (@tweetsbybabua) February 5, 2018
Frustrating this is! Absolutely no mention of the @BCCIWomen tour of SA and the 1st ODI which starts today in @BCCI website! No news of live telecasting/streaming as well! Not cool! pic.twitter.com/wL8qw5xoGk
— BCCIWomenFC (@BCCIWomenFC) February 5, 2018
Totally disappointed!!! 😞😑
No live telecast/streaming of #INDWvSAW
Wasn't it supposed to be shown on SonySix ?? @BCCIWomen— Anuradha (@anu1808_) February 5, 2018
https://twitter.com/utkarshnigam76/status/960428616311033856
Ridiculous that @BCCIWomen vs @OfficialCSA – the first match World Cup finalists are playing in 6 months, to qualify for the next one – is not telecasted
The 'recognition' post #WWC17 was only tokenism then,
Still no space for women's cricket in India— Zenia D'cunha (@ZENIADCUNHA) February 5, 2018
When IndWomen team played #WWC17 final against EngWomen team last year, everyone was like – "we are so proud of you girls" ! Now there is no live telecast of #INDWvSAW series.
This just so sad and dissapointing. ☹ @BCCIWomen @M_Raj03 @mandhana_smriti— Harideep Singh (@harideep_91) February 5, 2018
This is utterly disgraceful. Why could they not make prior arrangments. No point in being the most influential cricket Board in thw World
— Prabhakar Kaza (@prabhakarkaza) February 5, 2018
Very disappointing no live coverage not even on hotstar. On the other hand Australia's WBBL was live on both platforms. BCCI the richest cricket board can't sell TV rights for women's cricket. Disappointing. #SAvIND
— Avinash Kunder (@AvinashKunder) February 5, 2018
https://twitter.com/ashcupper26/status/960418009004281856
