I do not Think Women's Cricket has been given the Attention it Deserves-Vinod Rai

By: WE Staff | Tuesday, 19 April 2022

Vinod Rai, the former CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General), caused quite a stir when he was instrumental in uncovering the Coal Scam. His new book, 'Not Just a Nightwatchman,' is causing quite a stir. Not to mention the fact that the ex-bureaucrat has joined the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (COA), which was established in the aftermath of the IPL spot-fixing incident in 2015.

Meanwhile, in his book, he goes into great detail about the Virat Kohli-Anil Kumble spat and how the two were at odds. Rai has now brought another critical issue to light: women's cricket. He addressed the terrible state of affairs in the country in terms of women's cricket in an interview with 'The Week.'

"I believe women's cricket has not received the attention it deserves." Sadly, women cricketers were not regarded seriously until Mr [Sharad] Pawar took the effort to integrate the men's and women's organisations in 2006. Men's uniforms were being torn apart and re-stitched for women's players, which shocked me. I had to call Nike and inform them that this was not going to happen.

“I sincerely believe the girls deserved much better [when it came to] training, coaching facilities, cricketing gear, travel facilities and, finally, match fees and retainers. That was lacking and we tried to rectify it,” he said. 

“My regret was that I had not given due attention to women’s cricket till the match in which Harmanpreet [Kaur] scored 171* in the 2017 Women’s World Cup [against Australia]. She told me: “Sir, I was cramping so I had to hit sixes as I could not run much!” They were told at the hotel that they could not get the food they were supposed to, so they had samosas for breakfast that morning!”