Opinion: Sania Mirza's appointment as RCB-Women's mentor is pretty baffling and feels like a PR stunt

Sania Mirza is arguably the greatest female athlete in the history of Indian sport, there is no debating that. However, she is not a cricketer.

Sania Mirza in a file photo. (Image: Twitter)
By Nilavro Ghosh | Feb 15, 2023 | 4 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

“The failure lies where decisions aren’t made properly.” When the men’s team of the Royal Challengers Bangalore endured arguably their worst season in 2018, this is what then skipper Virat Kohli said ahead of the next season. The quote stands true to this day across all aspects of every single sport in the world, and it rings true even more for the Challengers. With the Women’s Premier League (WPL) set to commence its inaugural edition on March 4, 2023, RCB boasted of having one of the most star-studded squads in the competition, a parallel to the men’s team.

With the likes of Smriti Mandhana, Ellyse Perry, Sophie Devine, Richa Ghosh, Heather Knight, Renuka Singh and others among its ranks, the team has a massive chance of becoming the first franchise to win the WPL.

However, there are some decisions that may shape the way the team performs and while these decisions might seem good or bad on paper, their impact can only be adjudged by analyzing what happens on the pitch. So, when the Challengers announced the appointment of Sania Mirza, a tennis player, as their mentor, experts, fans, and quite frankly, journalists were shocked.

Now the reason RCB and Sania herself are pushing is that there is no female athlete in the history of Indian sports who has performed as consistently for a whopping 20 years as her. Her presence in the dressing room will serve as an inspiration, especially to the young players who might feel the jitters before stepping on to such a huge stage.

What is Sania saying?

“I was a little surprised [at being offered a mentorship role], but I was really excited,” Mirza told RCB TV. “I want to make young girls believe sport can be one of the first career choices for them. I want to help the next generation into believing in themselves no matter how much the odds are against you, you can achieve your goals.”

Read More – Sania Mirza announces retirement: Here is a look at her exquisite Grand Slam career

“The mental aspect of it is something I look forward to working with the younger girls,” she said. “I feel I can [help] bring in the mental steadiness, the mental belief, I can talk of the experiences I’ve had over 20 years of playing. Being the only [Indian] woman doing it for so many years has been lonely, but the pressure has been high, that kind of stuff is something I can truly help with.”

No disrespect to Sania, but it’s tough to get this decision

While this all sounds fine and dandy, here’s the kicker. Sania Mirza is arguably the greatest female athlete in the history of Indian sport, there is no debating that. However, she is not a cricketer. Is she an inspiration to women all across the country? Yes, no question. But after a point, what can she do for people that aren’t even remotely in the sport she is? At the end of the day, more than inspiring, it is a job of a mentor to guide young players about the technical aspects of the sport. That is something she, or anyone in the RCB dugout cannot possibly claim her to be a master in.

And if any of the RCB players were looking for a dash of inspiration, they need not look further than their own teammates. The likes of Smriti Mandhana, Ellyse Perry, Sophie Devine and Richa Ghosh are players that have made huge strides for women’s cricket not just in India, but across the world. A lot of the young Indians perhaps already look up to Mandhana and Ghosh thanks to their exploits on the international stage and the work they have put in for the growth of women’s cricket in India.

Is it just a PR stunt?

In the end, that makes the appointment of Sania Mirza redundant. And of course, there is always the glaring elephant in the room. The fact that the appointment of the tennis legend is nothing more than a PR stunt, sugarcoated as ‘mentorship’ to feed to the public. That, in itself, is disrespectful to women’s cricket in India, and Sania herself. If we look at the Mumbai Indians on the other hand, they have appointed Jhulan Goswami, one the greatest cricketers India has ever had, as their mentor. That is an appointment that, apart from being hugely inspirational, makes total sense in the technical aspect.

But then again, we will never know if it was worth it or not until and unless we see how the players perform on the pitch. There is not one Indian sports fan who would enjoy seeing Sania have a tough time. She is a legend of this country and whenever she has succeeded, the billions in India have celebrated with her. If her role at RCB works out, the people doubting her at this point of time would happily admit to being proven wrong.