Chinese women cricketers have stars in eyes

By Abhishek Roy, Mohali, Nov 2: For Weng Meng and her teammates nothing could have been more thrilling than watching their favourite stars --Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Sachin Tendulkar and Brett Lee -- play 'Shen Shi Yun Dong' or the 'noble game' as cricket is known in the land of Mao.

Meng, here as the captain of the Chinese women's team, is on an exposure trip to the Punjab Cricket Association. And the India-Australia clash here is their first experience of an international match.

The electric atmosphere at the packed stadium here gave them a sense of the frenzied popularity of cricket in the country.

"It was an amazing experience. It was a deafening noise out there," Weng remarked. "Cricket is not so popular in China but here the fan following is huge."

Meng, a left-arm pacer, is a big fan of Indian opener Sehwag and dreams of rattling the stumps of the Delhi dasher someday.

"My role model in Brett Lee, but I am also a big fan of Sehwag. The way he tears apart all the bowlers is simply great. I wish I get a chance to bowl to him," Meng said.

Local lad Yuvraj is equally popular among Meng's teammates. Hung Zhou follows the stylish left-hander closely and even attempts to copy his technique.

Zhou, who is the big hitter in the team, loves to see Yuvraj loft the bowlers.

"Yuvraj is graceful. And being a left-handed batsman myself, it is a great opportunity to see him play. I also like (Sachin) Tendulkar but Yuvraj is very hot," Zhou said.

The 15 players are here as part of the Asian Cricket Council's (ACC) programme to take the game to uncharted areas of the continent. They have been invited by (PCA) president Inderjit Singh Bindra, who is also the International Cricket Council's (ICC) principal advisor and visited China in August to explore the possibilities of promoting the sport.

Mei Chuan says she has learned to play the spinners during the exposure trip.

"In China we play on back-foot, but in India we are learning to play on the front foot. Playing spinners on the front foot is a challenging task and I would like to have a training session with Harbhajan Singh," she says.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is also providing help to promote the game in China. They have appointed former national women's team captain Mamtha Maben as the coach to help the Chinese Cricket Association (CCA).

Mamtha said the team is preparing for the 2010 Asian Games.

"The BCCI is doing its bit in promoting cricket in China by providing equipments and coaches. Cricket in China is being played on astro-turfs. But in this trip, the girls got a chance to play on real pitches and it will boost their confidence. We had a good training session here and the ODI match will be a great learning experience for the girls," she said.