TEAM INDIA'S PLAYER OF THE YEAR

There is an Indian name in the ICC roll of honour at the award ceremony in Johannesburg. But it's none of those household names. In fact not a single male cricketer was shortlisted.

The honours went to Jhulan Goswami, declared Women's Player of the Year. I've vaguely heard about this lady, and know that she is a fast bowler. Time to explore further.

I get to know she is the fastest woman bowler in the world. An Indian leading the fast lane, operating at 120kph. With some help from Dennis Lillee at the MRF pace academy.

She's already a headline story for the morning. A rare opportunity for an unknown bunch of cricketers to come into focus. How many remember that the women's team made it to the final of the last World Cup in South Africa (in 2005)? It's another matter that the same fate befell them as the men's team (a rout at Australia's hands)

The women's game is still dominated by the white nations, with all the World Cup crowns so far being divided between England, Australia and New Zealand. And only recently has India come into its own in the one-day game.

1997 summer I was at home and I lazily watched a few World Cup matches (India was the host) but the pace of the game was too slow. There was hardly any media interest, and India on home soil failed to impress. It also witnessed big sides piling up humungous scores against minnows. Case in point, Australian captain Belinda Clark's unbeaten 229 against Denmark.

I'm assuming standards have improved in the last decade, and so has the official treatment of women's cricket. But visibility remains low. In Headlines Today, when news came that India had reached the World Cup final in 2005, we were caught on the wrong foot. How does one mount a special programme without footage? Nothing of them playing, and no practice footage either. How would there be if we had never bothered to do any story in the past which dealt with women's cricket?

Jhulan Goswami has given us a hero. And one who storms into the crease. It feels good to bring to limelight the unknown faces of cricket. An opportunity to remember a generation of women who battled it out in the field without no public recognition.

Next step - a World Cup triumph.