By Fizza Abid
Women’s cricket in Pakistan has gradually established its foundation as a professional sport for females in Pakistan by sanctioning professional central contracts, recent Women’s PSL exhibition matches, focusing on emerging talent, projection through broadcasting, and the potential Women’s PSL in near future.
From winning the gold medals at the 2010 and 2014 Asian Games to going on to defeat some better-developed cricket teams on a number of occasions, a constant debate has been there if it is still worth the investment or not.
However, the struggle, journey, and desire to fulfill the passion of playing this sport for the country have still not been mainstream enough to understand that dreaming to play cricket is as much possible for a female as for a male and therefore to realize this dream is to provide equal opportunities, facilities, and independence before creating a division via a gender lens.
22 Qadam, a production of IRK films, brings us a story of a girl dreaming to play cricket, her trials, and a journey she embarks on to fulfill her dream of donning the green jersey for Pakistan.
Here are three reasons why this drama is a must-watch and why it can help the audience understand women’s cricket in a different way:
Inclusion of actual first-class female cricketers from all levels of cricket
Featuring real-life first-class cricketers, it is a drama that will possibly help showcase various obstacles girls face to play cricket by tangling the stories of diverse player personalities belonging to different backgrounds, and classes, navigating different challenges on a daily basis with different mentalities but unifying to achieve and fulfill one passion.
It features Hareem Farooq, a well-known name in the Pakistani industry, in the lead role who has actually gone through basic cricket training to instill into the actual character of a female cricketer aspiring to be a professional cricketer.
It features actual female and male cricketers including Sana Mir
Aiming to bring women’s cricket into the mainstream, the drama features Sana Mir, the trailblazer who changed the landscape of women’s cricket not only in Pakistan but at the international level and has been the main name to help develop the game to what it is now.
Being inspired by a real-life cricketer has always been one of the main motivational factors for any boy or girl to pick up the bat, play on the streets and start the journey. Another reason to watch this drama is to see how a girl who dreams of playing the sport following someone like Sana Mir navigates through diverse and different challenges, utilizes limited opportunities, and forgoes whatever obstacle comes her way to fulfill the same dream as any other boy or girl out there.
It will surely be interesting to see actual cricketers, Sana and others, being part of this venture.
Dream without limits
It is a potentially helpful medium to understand that dream to play cricket and other sports are for any human being with any gender and ability yet the challenges, and opportunities can differ and need to be dealt with differently.
This is true not for just sports but any other field. The support of parents, family, and anyone who is in that position to play a supportive role is so important for young girls and boys to explore, discover and work for their dreams rather than give in to what-ifs.
This is the reason the magic has unfolded for the likes of Sana Mir, Bismah Maroof, Nida Dar, and many others who have been able to be who they are today with the support and courage provided to them to dream big and dare to achieve.
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