‘How about a mixed cricket team of men and women?’
Akshay Kumar recently attended the Women’s Cricket World Cup final at Lord’s cricket ground, London, on July 23. Although the Women in Blue couldn’t lift the cup, they won everyone’s hearts back home in India. This has given Akshay an idea: how about Indian men and women cricketers come together to form one team?
“Like there are mixed doubles in tennis, why can’t there be a men and women cricket match against another country? Why can’t they have mixed cricket teams where six Indian men and six Indian women play against six men and six women from Australia?” says Akshay.
The actor rooted for the Indian women’s team and also met them after the match. “I was talking to the girls, and one of them said that it would be so much fun if Virat Kohli ran from one side and a lady was on the other side [of the batting pitch],” he says.
How did the idea come to him? “I was watching a Wimbledon [tennis] match recently when this idea struck me.,” he says.
The actor, who has been training women in selfdefence for free for the past three years, feels the Indian women’s cricket team no longer needs to be seen as underdogs. “They don’t require any [more] encouragement. Trust me, they have arrived. I saw them play and it was revolutionary. I met them and I told them that they had reasons to be sad but no reason to give up,” says Akshay.