South Africa vs India 2018: 7 similarities yet contrasting fortunes for Team India's 2 record wins

Both the Indian men's and women's cricket teams are on tour in South Africa and are bang in the middle of their respective ODI series. The date is 7th February 2018 - while the Indian men’s team took on the South African men in the 3rd ODI of a 6 match ODI series; the Indian women’s team took on the South African women in the 2nd ODI of a 3 match series.

Let's take a quick look at some amazing similarities for Team India across the 2 matches.

#1 The toss was lost by Team India in both games:

Team India lost the all important toss in both the games

3rd Men’s ODI: South African men won the toss and put India in to bat.

2nd Women’s ODI: South Africa women won the toss and put India in to bat.

#2 Team India post almost identical 300+ scores batting 1st:

3rd Men’s ODI: India put up 303/6 in 50 overs.

2nd Women’s ODI: India put up 302/3 in 50 overs.

#3 Majestic 100s by the #18 jerseys:

Virat Kohli - Jersey #18 led India to a famous win with a majestic ton

3rd Men’s ODI: Jersey #18 Virat Kohli scores his 34th ODI 100 and finishes with an unbeaten knock of 160 - the highest individual score by an Indian batsman against South Africa in South Africa.

Smriti Mandhana not only shares the #18 jersey number with Kohli but also his 100 scoring hunger

2nd Women’s ODI: Jersey #18 Smriti Mandhana scores her 3rd ODI 100 and finishes with 135 - the highest individual score by an Indian batswoman against South Africa in South Africa.

#4 Batting Records in both games:

Harmanpreet Kaur now moves to #3 in the list of leading Indian women run scorers in ODIs

3rd Men’s ODI: With his 34th ton and 12th as captain, Virat Kohli became the Indian captain with the most ODI 100s, going past Sourav Ganguly in 100 fewer innings. Virat now has 4 100s in his last 6 ODI innings and he now is 3rd on the list of international captains with most ODI hundreds behind Ricky Ponting (22) and AB de Villiers (13).

2nd Women’s ODI: Smriti Mandhana with her 3rd ODI hundred at the young age of 21 years and 204 days became just the 3rd Indian women to score 3 ODI 100s after Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur. Mandhana has now scored a 100 each in Australia, England and South Africa - which is quite an enviable record given that many men have failed to achieve the same feat.

Harmanpreet Kaur with her knock of 55 not out become the third-highest scorer for Indian women in ODI cricket behind her captain Mithali Raj and former captain Anjum Chopra.

#5 Spinners take 8 wickets in both games:

Chahal and Kuldeep have now taken their series tally to 21 wickets in just 3 ODIs

3rd Men’s ODI: Indian spinners combine to take 8 wickets between them - Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav pick up 4 wickets each.

2nd Women’s ODI: Indian spinners combine to take 8 wickets between them - Poonam Yadav with 4, Deepti Sharma and Rajeshwari Gayakwad with 2 wickets each.

#6 Record wins by 100+ run margins:

The Indian women's team has performed creditably to wrap up the series 2-0 after a 7 month hiatus

3rd Men’s ODI: Indian men won by 124 runs to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the 6 match ODI series, thereby becoming the first team to take a 3-0 lead in an ODI series in South Africa.

2nd Women’s ODI: Indian women won by 178 runs to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the 3 match ODI series. This was their highest margin of victory by runs against South Africa.

#7 Oldest players in both the teams reach record landmarks:

Jhulan Goswami is now the leading wicket taker in the world in Women's ODI cricket

3rd Men’s ODI: M S Dhoni (36 years 215 days), the oldest player in the Indian men’s team becomes the first Indian wicketkeeper and 4th in the world to achieve 400 dismissals in ODI cricket.

2nd Women’s ODI: Jhulan Goswami (35 years 74 days), the oldest player in the Indian women’s team becomes the first woman in the world to pick up 200 wickets in Women’s ODIs.

Contrasting fortunes for the women

Unequal World for the Indian Men and Women's cricket teams

Both the men and women are out there playing for India, yet the contrast could not be more stark, with the men’s team grabbing the headlines across most media channels and reports while the women’s team’s achievements were reduced to mere footnotes. What is even more staggering is that there is no live TV or online broadcast and coverage for the women’s series. Even the U-19 players received more media attention. The BCCI has to step up if it serious about promoting the game in India, and that does not mean focusing solely on the men’s game; there are a lot of young girls out there that might be interested in pursuing cricket as a career option.

It is a travesty that we have the world's richest cricket board in the world and yet we do not have a women's IPL tournament in India, nor do our women cricketers have central annual contracts with the BCCI. It is time for live telecasts of women's matches and for sponsorship and endorsement deals to pour in for our women cricketers as they too have limited shelf-lives just like any other sportsperson.