TNN
 
Nottingham, Jun 18: The Indian women's team is not used to much media attention when touring abroad. So the players were surprised to see a host of Indian scribes at the media conference on the eve of their semifinal of the ICC World T20 against New Zealand at Trent Bridge on Thursday.

In fact, manager Diana Eduljee said sarcastically, "Finally you guys got the time to cover women's cricket."

Sans too much fan fare, the hype or a huge support staff that accompanies the men's team, the Indian women's team led by pacewoman Jhulan Goswami has managed to do what MS Dhoni and his boys could not. In fact, Jhulan and her band of girls had impressed in the 50-over World Cup too, beating defending champions Australia twice to finish third.

Now, after the disastrous show by the men, it's up to the ladies to keep India's flag flying high in England. How different will it be to play on the same ground as the men's team with the world watching? "It's a big thing for women's cricket that we will play before the men's semifinal. It's a nice way to promote women's cricket. That the game would be telecast live is a boon. Our friends and family will be able to watch us and that will be an inspiration for us. The players are excited.

Hopefully, we will be able to draw youngsters to women's cricket," Jhulan said. Did the team get any message from the boys? "After our game against Sri Lanka, the men's team manager V. Chamundeswarnath said, 'What we couldn't do, you all should achieve'." said Eduljee. Jhulan's team would love to do what the men's team did two years ago. That'll at least prompt a felicitation from the BCCI if not an open-top bus parade.