Dancing to success

Thank goodness Mithali Raj was a lazy child. If she hadn't have been, she would never have been a cricketer and consequently never captained India to the World Cup final last year, nor brought them on tour to England this year.

"I just loved to sleep," she says of her ten-year-old self. "My dad was in the air force and military people really don't like that attitude - lazing around in the house, so my parents took the chance to make me join in the cricket group where my brother would play. I used to accompany him early in the morning to get in the habit of getting up."

In fact Raj wasn't into sports at all; she was a dancer, having studied classical Indian dance in her native Hyderabad from the age of six. "Dance has always been my first love," she muses, "but I had to quit because I was making rapid strides in cricket." You can say that again.

She was boosted into the national side at the age of 14 and has since become India's most successful captain, leading them to the World Cup final in 2005, the first Asian side to make it that far. And she held the world record for two years after, making 214 against England in the second and final Test at Taunton in 2002.

But it wasn't just the time constraints of dance, the touring and the required dedication: for dance in India you need to have a light complexion. "You cannot afford to spend time in the sun because of tanning," she says. "Cricket is more of a manly game." It's hard enough playing cricket as a woman, with the inevitable sacrifices and time commitments it entails, but on top of that is the stigma.

And indeed such has been the stigma of playing cricket that many Indian families have eschewed letting their girls play. Raj's own mum would still prefer her to be a dancer, although she is supportive of her decision. "She's always given me a choice and encouraged me to the best in whatever I do." Her dad is just delighted; he always wanted her to be a cricketer.

That's not the attitude of many fathers, although that is slowly changing; cricket is becoming more accepted and popular and it's all for one reason: money. Railways and Air India already plough money into the game - Railways, who are involved in all kinds of sports, give the players jobs and guarantee as much time off as they need and pay them while they play. Air India offer the players contracts, which also allows them to be professionals.

But the consequences of the BCCI, the world's richest cricket board, taking women's cricket under its far-reaching wings don't stop there. "That was a big boost," Raj confirms. "Before it there was no money no match feeds, there was nothing in women's cricket apart from the passion or the satisfaction you get playing." She shrugs. "But now there are job opportunities which might attract families to support their girls."

The women's association currently give the players 1000 rupees per match: "Compared to the men, that's peanuts." Since the BCCI came into the picture they get a daily allowance, and they're expecting to be playing at the better grounds when they get home.

As with the men, too, there are plenty of one-dayers at home to increase revenue. In the last 12 months, India have played 25 ODIs, all of them lucrative; South Africa and West Indies haven't even played one. India's matches have been broadcast on TV, with viewing figures shooting up all the time. As with the men, success breeds publicity success.

Their names, if not yet their faces, are recognised. Raj, Anjum Chopra and Neetu David, who has since retired, are all known across India, although they're not quite in the star-studded galactical league of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. There are newer talents coming through, though, and one day these players may be mobbed on the street like the men.

In the meantime, now the BCCI is on board and they're getting more similar treatment, is there a pressure to up the run-rate, hit more sixes and make the slow-paced women's game more exciting in line with the men? "I don't think so, women's cricket is a technique game."

She does concede, however, that there is an onus on the players to play decent cricket in front of the ever-burgeoning crowds. They have played in front of thousands at Eden Gardens before, but as the England women find, it's the regional outposts that attract the most fans, starved as they are of men's international cricket. And even as a seasoned campaigner - this is her seventh year - she still finds the numbers of spectators daunting. "Sometimes you feel really nervous or excited: OK, so people have come to watch cricket, we should put up a good show."

Playing cricket in front of thousands is a far cry from those days as a ten-year-old. And the enforced change in getting up worked too. "Now I don't have the habit of sleeping late."