Owning the crease in pink saris The Pink Sari Porject sent their message out Sydney’s Pink Test . FARZANA

Saturday 5 January was a suffocatingly hot day in the emerald city, but despite the mercury creeping up to almost 40°, die hard ‘crickets’ swarmed the SCG for a piece of action as India and Australia battled out the final test match of the 2018-19 series. The tensions were high and the heat would have been insufferable had a wave of pink not washed over to provide refreshing relief. The 120 ladies donning pink saris to promote the Pink Sari Inc’s message of early detection of breast cancer were a sight to behold on the third day of the match. It is hardly surprising then that they proved to be the biggest highlight of the game that day. The colourful saris, music and dances created an atmosphere that drew everyone in and made the day memorable.

Indian Link sought out Shanta Viswanathan, a voluntary committee member of Pink Sari Incorporated to get the lowdown on the stunt. Shanta explained that it all came together in a very short time.

“Pink Sari has always used arts as a platform for promotion, like the popular ‘Portraits in Pink’, ‘Pink Sari Melodies’ and dance performances at Parramasala, but sport was something we hadn’t considered yet,” Shanta enthused. “Since we all love cricket we thought it would be an excellent opportunity to get our message across to thousands via television, print media and word of mouth. And the response we received was overwhelming.”

“The ball started rolling as Cricket Australia came on board and we received a call from the McGrath Foundation which has been promoting aftercare in the form of breast care nurses with their Pink Test initiative for the past 11 years,” Shanta informed. “We were thrilled to be working alongside them. Our community was absolutely fantastic in its unwavering support and social media played its part in galvanising the ladies. The Pink Sari team braved the scorching heat to come clad in their signature saris along with some men who donned pink turbans in support. A few Bollywood numbers were executed to start off the performance which were followed by classical dances by performers from the Ruchi Sanghi

Dance Company. Pink Sari ambassador Kalyani Mani shared her inspiring story and a beautiful Rajasthani performance was put up for the Jane McGrath high tea.

Pink Sari started out in 2014 as a breast cancer awareness campaign targeting Indian and Sri Lankan communities. The alarming statistics pointing out that the rate of breast screening amongst the two communities was one of the lowest in the state, prompted the Cancer Institute NSW to fund the Pink Sari Project. The program was initially run by NSW Multicultural Health Communication Services and NSW Refugee Health Service with support from UTS and Breast Screen NSW. Working closely with Indian and Sri Lankan community organisations, the project