Numerous schools that tried to start a girls’ cricket team in the past said they struggled to find enough candidates to form a squad.
Some schools offer cricket coaching to boys but have failed to extend it to girls, allegedly due to a lack of interest.
In some schools where girls participate, the interest is tepid and the numbers are far behind those of boys.
Time will tell whether the Indian women’s historic World Cup win will kindle new interest among girls in Calcutta.
“Not enough students are interested in the game to start cricket coaching. We tried last year but failed to get enough girls. There were only one or two, but that is not enough to start a coaching facility,” said Koeli Dey, the principal of Sushila Birla Girls’ School.
Sri Sri Academy, which had been attempting to start cricket coaching since June, was able to do so only by the end of October.
“We had wanted to tie up with a cricket coaching academy, but they wanted a minimum of 50 students to start with. Since we could not get more than 20 students, we have started on our own with one male and one female coach,” said Gargi Banerjee, the principal. Of the 20, only four are girls.
“We don’t have a separate squad for girls, but still, we started because we did not want to make the girls feel left out. Some girls had approached us for cricket coaching, so it would have been unfair to start only for boys. Seeing them play, we are hopeful that more girls may want to join,” said Banerjee.
At Lakshmipat Singhania Academy and Rammohan Mission High School, a girls’ team is a remote possibility.
“We made an effort to commence around three years back, yet we faced challenges as there were merely four or five girls involved. Each time we attract more interest, several others have already exited. Thus, we are hamstrung,” said Sujoy Biswas, principal of Rammohan Mission High School.
At Laksmipat Singhania Academy, the girls are interested in volleyball, basketball, and tennis, but not cricket. “Perhaps because the game in the past did not get as much national prominence,” said principal Meena Kak.
Some of the prominent girls’ schools in the city have football teams, but not cricket.
Both La Martiniere for Girls and Modern High School for Girls boast of strong football teams and many enthusiastic participants. None of them has a cricket team.
The ratio of girls to boys in schools offering cricket coaching is also lopsided.
At both The Heritage School and Indus Valley World School, the number of boys signing up for cricket coaching is much higher than that of girls.
The Heritage School has provided cricket coaching since its inception, but the number of girls has remained low. It was only last year that the school was able to string together a girls’ squad.
“We have 12 girls now. For boys, however, we have 240 from Classes IV upwards. Of the 12 girls, four or five of them play for Bengal,” said Vinod Patra, the school’s cricket coach.
The change in interest will take time to show, feels Patra.
At Indus Valley World School, the cricket squad has 17 girls. The school began training them about three years ago. “If you compare with boys, the number of girls is definitely low; still, they are joining, which is a positive sign,” said principal Reshma Bhattacharya.
Modern High School for Girls has partnered with the Calcutta Cricket and Football Club, and girls can sign up for cricket coaching at the club located near the school premises.
A big stumbling block for cricket is that the sport, in its serious form, needs a specially prepared pitch and out field.
“The ground also needs a certain length and breadth,” said Damayanti Mukherjee, principal, Modern High School for Girls.
“We have a garden with trees lined up, and we cannot disturb the environment. So we have tied up with CC&FC,” said Mukherjee.