By Alkesh Sharma
Mohali, Oct 22 (IANS) The Chinese are here to learn the rudiments of cricket. The game is alien to them, but as a sporting superpower they know they can master the skills and be a force to reckon with sooner than later.

A bunch of 15 Chinese girls are out at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) stadium here seriously working out. They are here as part of the Asian Cricket Council’s (ACC) programme to take the game to uncharted areas of the continent.

President of the PCA Inderjit Singh Bindra, who is also the principal adviser to the International Cricket Council, told IANS that the girls are here in a coaching camp and the state association is providing the facilities at the request of the ACC.

The ICC has invested huge resources in promoting cricket in China, the driving force being the economic potential of the world’s most populous nation.

“Cricket is still at a nascent stage in China. We want to progress in a systematic way,” says Mamatha Maben, coach of China’s women team, who is also a former India captain.

“We do not expect much from this team. It’s been 10 months since I joined them and the response from the players have been encouraging. They are agile and hard working and they have improved in every department,” she says.

“Presently we are preparing for Twenty20 cricket considering the fact that this format is going to make its debut in the 2010 Asian Games. We have played many Twenty20 matches in the past few months.”

In July this year, the Chinese team had participated in a Twenty20 tournament of Asian non-Test playing nations in Malaysia and made it to the semi-finals where they lost to Thailand.

This weekend China will play two Twenty-20 matches against Punjab’s senior team.

The team landed here Oct 13 and will return after watching their first international match here Nov 2 when India play Australia in a seven-match one-day series.

“A huge chunk of support to promote cricket in China comes from Shenyang Sports University, in Shenyang city. The government is yet to extend any help,” says Maben.

ICC is conducting various courses for coaches.

There are around 50 active cricket coaches in China, who have cleared level-I of cricket coaching, she points out.

BCCI had sent Maben to China in March this year as a gesture to support the China Cricket Association (CCA).

“There is a language barrier as only two members of this team speak English. I am learning Chinese as I have no other option. For the time being, I have learnt some commonly used words.”

“These girls did not have much exposure to cricket, so I am showing them recordings of last version of Indian Premier League and other Twenty20 matches,” says Maben.

One of the team members Mei Chunhua, who can speak English, says: “While studying at Tongji University in Shanghai, I started playing cricket in 2007.”

“The Pakistani and Indian students in our university used to play cricket with soft ball. We used to watch them play and it ignited an interest in the sport,” says Mei, a 24-year-old all-rounder.

“I took up a job, but my love for cricket forced me to come back.”