Global eSports: The Protest Match

In November 2020, Afghanistan announced its official Women's Cricket team - a first in its history. For a country ravaged by war and conservatism, this was a path-breaking achievement for the sport loved by billions in this part of the continent. However, by August 2021, a new regime had taken over that banned women in the country from playing sports, especially cricket. So, for the first time, an official Women's Cricket Team, ironically couldn't play cricket.
Agency: Isobar, India
This unfair ban was covered and protested by the world’s media as well as the Twitterati but with little change in reality. Thus, with an objective to pledge support and protest the injustice caused to the Afghan Women’s Cricket team, on April 3, 2022 – the day the ICC Women’s World Cup finals took place in New Zealand, Global eSports, India’s leading esports organisation, in partnership with Isobar India group, re-created the finals – one that could have happened. For the record, Isobar India group that comprises the agencies – Isobar, WATConsult and Perfect Relations, is a part of dentsu Creative India that brings together some of India’s best capabilities across creative, digital & PR under one umbrella. Titled ‘The PROTEST Match’, this initiative is a first-of-a-kind in the history of esports and gaming in India. During the campaign, Global eSports, painstakingly recreated the Afghanistan Women’s Cricket Team virtually, replicating the exact team that was unfairly banned from playing in real. Once ready to take the field, the virtual team invited famous e-sport gamer and influencer, Monika Jeph – aka Sherlock, to play against them in a match, coinciding with the real World Cup finals that were taking place in faraway New Zealand. The finals that could have happened were livestreamed on several popular gaming channels, including YouTube, Loco and Twitch. The viewership, engagement and participation far exceeded the capacity of several cricket stadiums combined. Spreading the word through social media and the close-knit gaming community, those who were interested to play against the re-created Afghani Women’s team were directed to a microsite wherein they could book a preferred timeslot to play. Roya Samim, who was running to become the Afghanistan Women’s Team captain, came forward to vehemently support the campaign and shared an appeal video to get people to be a part of it. The PROTEST Match was picked up by several media and news channels, adding further to the buzz. Not only did the campaign enable the Afghani Women to play a match that was impossible for them to play in real, but it also brought out the aspect of gaming and esports for a cause.