It is played on every available strip of grass and patch of asphalt, in every galli and mohallah. Hockey may be Pakistan's national sport, but cricket is the national passion. Of late, however, that passion has turned sour, with forfeited matches, failed dope tests, fitness problems, the early exit from the World Cup in March and the death of coach Bob Woolmer. It has been a bad year for Pakistani cricket, to say the least – for men's cricket, at any rate.
While the men in white are portrayed alternately as gods or devils, depending on the slant of the fickle public mood, the country's cricketing women have been building a team under the radar. Yes, Pakistan does have a women's cricket team. No, these women in white have not won a major tournament yet. But that must be seen in context.
"The Indian women's team has been playing for more than 35 years," says 21-year-old Urooj Mumtaz Khan, captain of the national women's cricket team. "We can't compare." The current Pakistani team is merely two years old. Also stacked against it is the nature of cricket's social milieu. Those games being played in the gallis and mohallahs? All by boys. And while Shamsa Hashmi, secretary of the women's wing of the Pakistan Cricket Board, may call the game a "second religion", Pakistan's religious extremists have raised a fuss about mixed-gender sporting events.
In 2005, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) – the conservative multi-party religious alliance that constitutes one-fifth of the current Parliament – intervened in a mixed marathon in Lahore. When violent clashes ensued, the government prohibited women and men from 'sporting' together. The aftershocks of that decision can be felt even today. Men are banned from women's cricket matches unless accompanied by their families. This ban even extends to the Women's World Cup qualifier tournament, an international event where the likes of Zimbabwe, Papua New Guinea, Bermuda, Ireland, South Africa, Scotland and the Netherlands will compete in Lahore this November. But team captain Khan is happy with the decision. "We do prefer to avoid groups of men watching our games. This keeps out riffraff who come to see us playing for cheap thrills."