Why Japan's Female Cricketers Became Cricket Guides For Vips At India Match

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Vinay Iyer, a former club-level cricketer in Mumbai who played against Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara when they were in their teens, is now the head coach of the Japan national women's cricket team.

Iyer is proud of the 'small victories' in the recent women's cricket tournament at the Asian Games in Nagoya, where his team batted through 20 overs against the formidable Indian team, the eventual winners of the gold medal.

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His young team may not have a medal to show for their spirited effort, but they had created wonderful memories.

The 41-year-old was still relishing those moments in Nagoya when the Japan Cricket Association asked him to move to Sano to help them in organising the first official match between the men's cricket teams of both countries.

The occasion was big. In the middle of the Asian Games, a baseball-obsessed country was hosting India, a cricketing superpower, for the first time in a men's T20 International.

The match was organised to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Japan's diplomatic relations with India.

The Sano International Cricket Stadium, located in the city of Sano, 60 kilometres from Tokyo, doesn't offer state-of-the-art facilities.

Set in a scenic location, the stadium does have a natural-turf pitch, a rarity in Japanese cricket, where the sport is still at a nascent stage.

A seating capacity of barely two thousand people made no difference as Shreyas Iyer's team arrived at the venue amid a deafening noise from fans, mostly Indian expats.

But there was one problem. Among the audience was a group of Japanese VIPs, all belonging to the sponsors, who were attending a cricket match for the first time.

As none of them had ever heard about a no-ball and a wide-ball, let alone the roles of a batter or a bowler, the onus fell on Vinay Iyer's Japanese women's national team to be their guide, explaining the rules and fours, sixes and wickets as they watched an international cricket match live for the first time.

Draped in their national team colours, as many as 12 members of the Japanese team volunteered to help the VIPs follow the game between India and Japan's men's teams on Tuesday.

“The women's squad was originally going to stay in Nagoya for a little longer, but we were moved out because of the India-Japan match. The girls were helping as volunteers, and I was helping the CEO of Japan Cricket to manage everything at the ground,” Vinay Iyer told the Khaleej Times over the phone from Tokyo.

“Our players were volunteering in the sense that there were a lot of VIPs and VVIPs from different companies and Japanese organisations who were attending the match. Many of them weren't familiar with the rules of cricket, so our female players were there to help them understand the game while they watched.”

While Iyer's players were helping the VIPs, his role was to manage the Indian team's needs on the ground.

But his bigger challenge was to avoid the Indian fans in the temporary stands.

“Many of them are from Tokyo and they know me well. If they saw me, they would have asked me to help them get pictures with the Indian stars,” Iyer said.

He was taken aback by the craze for Jasprit Bumrah, the Indian fast-bowling superstar.

“Everyone was singing his name. They really wanted to see him. He didn't play the game, but whenever he came out of the dugout, people went crazy. He did a few actions with the ball, as if he was about to bowl, and the crowd just erupted. They were so happy,” Iyer said.

“After the match, he said he wanted to go near the fans. That was a big moment. Everyone went crazy. He went over to take photographs with them and meet the fans.”

For someone who has been involved with Japanese cricket for several years now, Iyer was also surprised to see the level of curiosity among the local media for the Indian cricket team.

“The Japanese media was very excited to see what the craze around Indian cricket was all about. They had heard about it and seen it, but experiencing it was something completely new for them,” he said.

“There was already a lot of local media interest when the Indian team came to Tokyo with the trophy. The captain had photographs taken with the trophy, and there were Japanese media and cameras there. They were also interested in the post-match media conference.”

In a rain-shortened match, Japan put up a heroic fight before going down by two runs against India.

For cricket in Japan, Iyer said the historic match was a big boost.

“There was a sizeable Japanese crowd as well on the ground. For them to see the team perform so well was incredible,” he said.

“It was a history-making moment, and you know, one moment, the Japanese players were crazy, they wanted to take pictures with Indian stars, and then they were taking their wickets, almost winning the match on the last ball. We were lucky enough to be there for this game.”

The Japanese women's team, Iyer said, was also star-struck when they played India at the Asian Games.

“Our players were so nervous because they knew they were playing India. But at the same time, they were incredibly excited,” he said.

“They could see all the superstars they idolise standing around them. That was a huge moment for the girls.”

“So for them to bat through almost 20 (19.5) overs and score 57 was fantastic. That was one of the small victories. We took a couple of wickets, one of our bowlers even bowled a maiden, and the girls were so happy about those little things.”

The star attraction for the Japanese players was Smriti Mandhana.

“They really wanted to see Smriti Mandhana, but unfortunately she didn't come out to bat. After the match, they took a lot of photographs with the Indian players. Everyone was crazy about Smriti and Harmanpreet Kaur,” he said.

The first experience of playing an elite team in cricket, Iyer hoped, would inspire Japan to invest more in the sport.

“I think this is the moment when people in Japan have actually realised how big cricket is,” he said.“They didn't really know before. I hope it is the start of something big in Japan and we get to see more boys and girls play cricket and more cricket grounds and turf wickets.”

And perhaps, Iyer would also hope that his women's team would never have to volunteer to help Japanese people understand the rules of cricket in the middle of a men's international match.

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