THEY are taking Indian cricket by storm, but some are wondering if this conservative nation is ready for dancers with bulging breasts and gyrating bellies parading in its packed stadiums.
Many foreign cheerleaders have been imported for this month's inauguration of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a shortened form of cricket that transforms the game into a more glitzy, US-style sponsored sports event.
But outraged politicians say
it is an affront to Indian culture, while some cheerleaders complain that lewd comments and insults from spectators are making their job a misery.
"It's been horrendous," a cheerleader from Uzbekistan, told the Hindustan Times. "Wherever we go, we 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. The TV rights sold for more than £450 million and players for eight teams, many imported from abroad, were auctioned for millions.
The cheerleaders are part of the glitz, and some 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.
Nitin Gadkari, leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Maharashtra state, home to the Mumbai Indians cricket team, said: "What the cheerleaders are doing during cricket matches is ten times more vulgar than what used to happen in dance bars of Mumbai."
The BJP, India's main opposition party, was part of a coalition that closed 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," Mr Gadkari said.
But Charu Sharma, the chief executive of Bangalore Royal Challengers, said:
"Let us not play this high-handed moral belief game. It is only small maverick groups that are making a noise."
Mr Sharma added 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," he said.
Some Indians said critics of the cheerleaders 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 these double standards?" asked Mohan, a marketing executive from Bangalore.
