The women's cricket World Cup begins in Mumbai, India on Jan. 31, "but observers are shocked at the low-key preparations for the event," according to Indranil Basu of the TIMES OF INDIA. Int'l Cricket Council sources said that the budget for the event is $3.5M -- 45 times less than the $160M budget for the '11 men's World Cup, which was co-hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Women's cricket "may be slow and less attractive compared to the men's game, but such huge disparity has disappointed former women cricketers." They noted that "hardly any buzz has been created around the event," except for the ICC "trying to air a few promos here and there." Many Indian women players say that the Board of Control for Cricket in India "has done little to promote their game even though it's not a saleable product in the country." They point out that women's cricket in other Test-playing nations "gets much better treatment than it does in India." The BCCI, however, said that "it was committed to women's cricket." A BCCI official said, "We are trying our best to promote women's cricket. Things have improved after BCCI took over the body" (TIMES OF INDIA, 1/14).
