By Sharanya Gopinathan
‘In a major upgrade for its junior, fringe and women players, the Indian cricket board is set to clear a proposal to allow all teams to fly business class.’ This is how a report in the Indian Express on the BCCI’s Committee of Administrators (COA) planning to clear a proposal that would allow these three groups of players begins.
The Indian Women’s Cricket Team is currently the fourth in the world. Until now, only the men’s team, BCCI bosses and “high-profile employees” were allowed to fly business class, which of course leads to complaints by the other athletes when flying for long distances. According to the Indian Express, “the COA felt there should be no hierarchy with regard to the players, and the junior, fringe and women players should enjoy the same benefits as Virat Kohli and his team.”
I don’t think its a coincidence that such a welcome move has finally been made so soon after the BCCI appointed the legendary Diana Edulji to the COA. When accepting the position, Edulji said that she would make it a priority to focus on the issues the women’s team faces, and has in the past been vocal about the discriminatory treatment the women’s team receives, and about securing the women’s cricket team appropriate funding and facilities.
Also, don’t you think it’s weird that junior and fringe players are lumped together in the same category as the senior women players? This isn’t a classification that’s exclusive to sports: when even the Constitution of India and various arms of government frequently group women-and-children together, I guess it’s not a total shocker that the BCCI does too.