'They had samosas for breakfast' - Vinod Rai reveals issues faced by Indian team during 2017 Women's WC

The Indian women’s cricket team had an outstanding campaign in the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 that was played in England and Wales. They showcased some amazing performances and also went on to defeat the mighty Australians in the semis. However, a collapse in the final against England saw them fall short by nine runs.

Lately, the former Committee of Administrators (COA) of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Vinod Rai has opened up about the story of the Mithali Raj-led side behind the scenes in his new book ‘Not Just A Nightwatchman’. He revealed that the women’s team could not get food at the hotel during the semi-final against Australia and had samosas ahead of the all-important clash.

My regret was that I had not given due attention to women’s cricket: Vinod Rai

“I do not think women’s cricket has been given the attention it deserves. Unfortunately, women cricketers had not been taken seriously till about 2006, when Mr [Sharad] Pawar took the initiative to merge the men’s and women’s associations. I was aghast to know that men’s uniforms were being cut up and re-stitched for women’s players. I had to ring up Nike and tell them that this was not on and that their design would be different,” said Vinod Rai while speaking to the The Week

“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!”, he added.

It was only after the 2017 Women’s World Cup that women’s cricket started getting instant recognition. The Women in Blue then showcased consistent performances in future ICC tournaments by making the semis of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in the West Indies and reaching the finals of the 2020 edition in Australia. Mithali Raj and Co. played some good cricket in the 2022 edition of the Women’s World Cup, but fell agonisingly short of making the semis.