Domestic revisions, and why Railways are the strongest side

Mithali Raj

Our Railways camp ends today in Mysore and it was a satisfying one considering it is our first off-season camp. We have the strongest side in domestic cricket but that is because a good number of India players play for Railways. And that is because Indian Railways is one of the few organisations to offer employment to cricket-playing girls. However it is not that other teams can’t beat us at all, but since we are a very experienced side we are on top more often that not.

While the camp was on, I had to go to to attend a board meeting on women’s cricket. Jhulan Goswami, the vice-captain, was also there along with the national selectors. I can’t really discuss what went on in the meeting but I am happy to say a domestic Twenty20 competition has been added to next season’s calendar keeping in mind the World Cup in England next June. I have said earlier that it is important for players to get some experience in the short format before the World Cup – not only national players but also those in the domestic circuit. The IPL has been a huge hit and now everyone is eager to play this format.

We have two big tours coming up – England in September and Australia in November – and these will be ideal preparation for the 50-over World Cup in Australia next March. Before the 2005 World Cup as well, we had some big series – Australia, New Zealand and England - to prepare ourselves. Although last year we had only one international series, the BCCI is now working on making our calendar more regular. It took a long time for men’s cricket to get to where it is today, so we need to be patient, after all the board has been handling the women’s game for only two years now.

We will also now have more matches in the inter-state one-dayers. Earlier if a team was knocked out in the first match of the second leg, they had to wrap up and go, but now they will get to play the whole tournament. This means there will be more competition among teams. Playing in a domestic side can be quite different from playing for the national team. In state sides there are strong players and then there are the weak ones as well, so the talent is spread out over different teams. Whereas in a national team you have your best XI of the country. Say, in an international match – in the case of batsmen - if one batsman gets out, another equally good one comes in. But domestic teams lack such depth. There will be four to five players who can score and the tail can’t do a rescue-act in case they collapse. In internationals, the last few can also come together and get the runs required for the side.

I believe one way of getting talent fast-tracked in to the state sides is through Under-19 zonal tournaments. These players are already of a good standard so helping them through to the higher level will be easier since they excel in age-group cricket of their level.

In our Railways camp, those of us in the Indian team have been working on our individual weaknesses. For others as well, this is a way to avoid getting stale and keep up the training regime. We have fitness training and nets – in the morning we either go to the gym or work on our endurance, speed or agility. We have speed exercises like the shuttle run where we touch a cone and run back to our mark and endurance ones like a 400 metre run in which we alternately jog and stride. Since it is monsoon season, in the evenings we have a swim session or play volleyball, football.

If I had to organise a camp – say for young players – I would mainly concentrate on fitness for we tend to play more matches these days. It takes a toll on the body and if your muscles are weak there are chances of being injury-prone. Fielding is another area I’d stress on – India have always been poor in fielding, though after watching the IPL, I think the men have improved a lot. I have seen in other countries players are taught how to dive, slide etc at a very young age. In India we don’t get that opportunity but now after the BCCI has taken over, women’s state camps are being held in good grounds. Since most of the teams have young players it will be ideal to concentrate on fielding at that stage so they are ready and trained by the time they mature.