ICC appoint Sachin Tendulkar as official ambassador of women's World Cup 2017

Sachin himself has played in six World Cups 

 

What’s the story?

Indian cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar was announced as the official ambassador of Women's Cricket World Cup 2017 by the International Cricket Council (ICC) yesterday, on the occasion of International Women's Day.

"Women's participation in any sport is really important. I think that it has always been 'women for sport and sport for women. Thus, here I am, to extend all my support to them and advice them to enjoy the competitiveness,” Tendulkar said.

"All the teams participating in the tournaments are competitive, but my heart is with India," quipped the legend, when asked about which teams can make it big in the world event. “There are in fact a couple of players which I know and have interacted with in the past- Jhulan Goswami, Mithali Raj, who are expected to get the best out of the game."

ICC also released a video of Sachin speaking about the tournament.

We're proud to announce @sachin_rt as @UNICEF and Cricket for Good Ambassador for the ICC Women's World Cup 2017 #WWC17 #IWD2017 pic.twitter.com/cNvfdlJH7G

— ICC (@ICC) March 8, 2017

In case you did not know

Tendulkar himself played in six World Cups. He first started off in the 1992 World Cup and then in 1996 almost single-handedly took India to the semi-finals which they lost to Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens.

The next time around he lost his father during the world event but came back to help India get to the super sixes. In 2003 he was the highest scorer in the tournament but India lost in the finals to Australia. In 2007 he somehow failed to inspire his side with the willow and India crashed out of the tourney in the group stages.

Four years later he was the second highest scorer in the quadrennial event and was the driving force behind India lifting the trophy. Overall he played 45 matches in the World Cups and scored 2278 runs at an average of 56.95.

The heart of the matter

The women’s World Cup this year starts on June 24 at England and Wales with eight top cricketing countries locking horns to grab the coveted trophy. The 21-day tournament having 28 matches will be played at five different venues with the final at Lord's.

And who can be a better ambassador to the game than Sachin, who had dedicated over 24 years of his life to playing international cricket?

What’s next?

It will be interesting to see what the little master does to help promote the women’s game. Also, only time can tell if he will be present during the games to egg on the players who will give it their all to lift the glittering piece of silverware.

Sportskeeda’s take

Sachin Tendulkar is perhaps the biggest icon of the game. The ICC could not have got anyone bigger to promote the women’s game and therefore it is a very wise decision to appoint Sachin as the brand ambassador.