World Cup diary: Who said women's cricket isn't entertaining?

The power of 300 What can 300 people do? Ask King Leonidas. Or, you could ask those who were present at the India vs West Indies opening fixture of the ICC Women’s World Cup. It’s just an estimate, but from where the press could see, the crowd at the game didn’t exceed a few hundred. “What do you think about the crowd?” asked a journalist from Australia which set the guessing ball rolling. Speculation ended with an ICC member saying: “You tell me, 500? It’s free tickets so we can’t keep a count.” 500 or 300, it doesn’t matter, because the type of cheering was simply amazing. From ball one, chants of ‘Poonam, Poonam!’ didn’t subside, followed by, ‘Niii, niii… Kaminiii!’ Not just the boundaries, but even no-balls and overthrows were cheered with equal fervour. This was a passionate crowd, eager to dispel any doubts that cricket’s popularity in India is waning. And when both the players reached their half-centuries, the first raise of the bat didn’t go towards the players… it went to a section of crowd who will go back home with sore throats. A section dominated by an age-group who seem to have an endless stamina to scream. But what price is a little but of strain on the vocal chords to drive home your team to victory? Just like the match ticket, it’s free. [caption id=“attachment_609168” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Kamini scored a century for India against the West Indies. PTI[/caption] Of actions and celebrations Is it Paul Adams? Is it Mushtaq Ahmad? Of course not, it’s Anisa Mohammed with one of the most unique actions in world cricket. She leaps within a second of her run up, maybe unnecessarily, but it makes for good entertainment. But this is a top-class bowler– the highest wicket-taker in T20 internationals and the first West Indian to take five wickets in a T20 game. Her action, however, just cannot be explained. We couldn’t see Anisa celebrate a wicket–and we think that would be fun to watch too–but we surely saw Thirush Kamini celebrate her century. The 22-year-old played a patient innings, scoring 100 runs in 146 balls, but when she reached her century… the aggression boiled over in an explosion. Who said women’s cricket isn’t entertaining? Beautiful pinch-hitters The opening partnership was worth 175 runs, before Poonam Raut was out on 72. With everyone expecting star player Mithali Raj to step out, it was quite a surprise to see Jhulan Goswami enter the fray. “Ali pinch-hitter ali,” commented a journalist. And she didn’t disappoint him. Jhulan smashed 36 in 21 balls (six fours). But if Jhulan deserves the pinch-hitters tag, then so does Harmanpreet Kaur. Akaash Chopra was impressed with Kaur, tweeting: https://twitter.com/cricketaakash/status/296953635311611904 Kaur scored 36 off 22 balls and smacked a couple of sixes too. So, who’s the better pinch-hitter? And mind you, none of those two are ’little’.