It's just not cricket! Cheerleaders shake India

Washington Redskins cheerleaders perform at the Philadelphia Eagles NFL game in Landover, Maryland in this November 11, 2007 file photo.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Cheerleaders are taking Indian cricket by storm, but some are wondering if this conservative South Asian nation is ready for dancers with bulging breasts and gyrating bellies parading in packed stadia.

Many foreign cheerleaders have been imported to India with this month's inauguration of the India Premier League (IPL), a shortened form of traditional cricket that transforms the game into a more glitzy U.S.-style sponsored sport event.

But some outraged politicians say it is an affront to Indian culture while a few of the cheerleaders themselves complain lewd comment and insults from spectators is making their job a misery.

"It's been horrendous," Tabitha, a cheerleader from Uzbekistan, told the Hindustan Times. "

"Wherever we go we do expect people to pass lewd, snide remarks but I'm shocked by the nature and magnitude of the comments people pass here."

The IPL has caught the imagination of India, a nation of 1.1 billion and the world's biggest cricket audience. TV rights sold for more than $900 million and players for eight teams, many imported from abroad, were auctioned for millions.

In contrast to the cliched cricket image of genteel spectators sipping tea while politely applauding their team, now scantily-clad dancers gyrate to Bollywood or Western-style dance music blaring out from loudspeakers in stadia.

Even well-known cheerleaders from the Washington Redskins flew to India to perform for the Bangalore Royal Challengers. Photos of the dancers graced the front pages of most newspapers.

MORE VULGAR

"What the cheerleaders are doing during cricket matches is ten times more vulgar than what used to happen in dance bars of Mumbai," Nitin Gadkari, leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Maharashtra, home to the Mumbai Indians.

The BJP is India's main opposition party, which was part of a coalition which banned popular bars in Mumbai where girls would dance on stage to Bollywood tunes.

"If we could ban dance bars, how can we allow such vulgar dance in a cricket field. I am getting huge complaints and cheerleaders must be banned immediately from entering a cricket field," Gadkari said.

In the IT hub of Bangalore, Parvathi, a housewife, said U.S. cheerleaders were an affront to India.

"What is the purpose of this display? It is embarrassing," said Parvathi.

But Charu Sharma, chief executive of Bangalore Royal Challengers defended the cheerleaders.

"Let us not play this high handed moral belief game. It is only small maverick groups that are making a noise," Sharma told Reuters.

He told the Hindustan Times that security would be tightened for the dancers.

"We are aware of the concerns and can take nothing for granted. A security ring will be provided to them and everything that can be done will be done," Sharma said.

Some Indians said critics were hypocritical in a nation well known for its sensual Bollywood musicals.

"Our stars wear skimpy dresses in movies but nobody seems to protest. Why this double standards?" said Mohan, a marketing executive from Bangalore.