NEW DELHI, March 16: A growing number of women in India — even, reportedly, the wife of the US ambassador — are falling prey to the charm of cricket during the ongoing World Cup.

India Today said US envoy Robert Blackwill, whose country is not known for its interest in South Asia’s favourite sport, recently confided to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee that “his wife, not much of a sports buff, now sits up at night to watch cricket while he sleeps.”

While cricket has long been viewed as a gentlemen’s game, women in cricket-crazy India are finding it increasingly hard to resist thanks to blanket television coverage and the national team’s dream run in the World Cup.

Saurav Ganguly’s Indians have already qualified for the Cup semifinal against Kenya at Durban on Thursday, having won seven matches in a row and millions of woman fans in the process.

The number of women fans have grown nearly three-fold since India’s remarkable victory over England in the NatWest Trophy final at Lord’s last year.

“During the NatWest series in England last year, the female TRPs (Television Rating Points) were 2.8. They rose to 4.9 in the World Cup and to 9.8 for India matches,” India Today reported.—AFP