Interview
An Interview with Anjum Chopra from Rediff News
It is wrong to compare women’s cricket to men’s
Shirzanan: The Rediff Cricket Interview with Anjum Chopra starts with a short biography of Anjum, “At just 17 she made her ODI debut against New Zealand at Christchurch in 1995. Fourteen years on, she has represented India in 109 ODIs, scoring 2,542 runs, including 455 from 19 World Cup outings.”
When asked what kept her motivated? She answers, “Playing for India in itself is the biggest motivation. When you are playing for your country, wearing the Indian colours out there, facing everybody and talking about your team, personally, I think that is the biggest motivation anybody can ever have as an individual. And as far as the youngsters are concerned, passing them information and sharing with them my own experiences, I think, it’s great.”
And when the interviewer points out “But the women’s game still doesn’t have as big a following as the men’s version...” she explains, “We cannot compare women’s cricket to the men’s game. That has to be understood. The physical power, the basic strength between a male and female cannot be compared.
I don’t say you can’t look up to the boys and play. Of course, when a girl starts playing she tends to idolise the men more because they are more visible on television. But, subsequently, she starts looking for or identifying her idols in women’s cricket.”
For Shirzanan Marjan Namazi has translated this interview from English to Farsi. You can read the original interview here:
