Considered an almost religion in India, Indian cricket has always been at the forefront when it came to a sport that the public looks up to most. Naturally, any major shift in the game reaches millions of its fans. Indian cricket is now moving towards bridging the gap of inequality among male and female cricketers whether it's through equal pay or the inaugural of the women's IPL this season. Therefore, the hope of demonstrating a levelling ground where equal opportunities not just on paper but in reality are given to the female gender is rising and empowering in more ways than one. In a recent development, the Board of Control for Cricket In India (BCCI) announced that the upcoming season of the Ranji Trophy will have Indian female umpires officiating matches for the very first time.
With the Ranji Trophy season all set to begin on December 13, three female umpires Janani Narayan, Vrinda Rathi and Gayathri Venugopalan will be officiating matches this season. This marks as the first time in history that women umpires will officiate the Ranji trophy matches.
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Women Umpires Officiate Men's Cricket Match
This is the first time in Indian cricket that women umpires have been appointed to officiate in the men's matches.
Janani Narayan, Vrinda Rathi and Gayathri Venugopalan will be the three umpires making history in doing so, as per the new announcement. Mumbai-based Vrinda Rathi and Chennai resident Janani Narayan have served as seasoned umpires.
In 2018, the duo were also a part of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) panel of development referees. While Umpire Gayathri Venugopalan, who belongs to Delhi, has worked as a reserve umpire (fourth umpire) in the Ranji Trophy season much earlier, she never got the opportunity to officiate until now.
The Ranji season which is all set to kickstart next week coincides with the Indian women's cricket matches with Australia and the team from down under will be visiting the Indian subcontinent for a series.
A BCCI official told the media that this step is just the beginning as the board is looking to explore more opportunities to bridge the gap and offer equal opportunities to women in all spheres of the game, whether it’s season cricket or an international one or the IPL. "Ranji is a start. We plan to offer this kind of an opportunity to female umpires for men's cricket too," he said.
3 women of the 150 registered umpires with the BCCI
36-year-old Janani Narayan is a former software engineer who left her job to join cricket and serve as an umpire, a position she has greatly adored. On the other hand, Vrinda Rathi, 32, comes from Mumbai and holds an experience as a bowler laying for the University of Mumbai. Gayathri Venugopalan, 43, started her stint as an umpire in 2019 after she cleared the BCCI exam.
Of the 150 registered umpires with the BCCI, women make only three. While this is nothing but a positive step in a promising direction, there's a lot BCCI needs to do to bridge a wide gap. India is still way behind when it comes to women umpires officiating matches for the Indian men's cricket team as compared to countries like England and Australia where the regime is in string practice for some years now.
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