Spice of Life: Of women’s cricketing dreams that came true
Being a fast bowler, my father loved to bowl and taught me the importance of footwork and technique while batting. Our cricket became popular and we found scooterists stopping by our house to watch my shots in admiration
“I would like to see you as captain of the Indian women’s cricket team.” I still cherish the autograph given in a colourful little notebook to me by my sports teacher in the late ’90s as I was bidding adieu to teachers in Class 10. Taking autographs from teachers on the last day of school was a tradition we treasured.
Fond of watching cricket since childhood, I was passionate about the sport so much so that I dreamt of becoming a woman cricketer one day. The ’90s were the best era of Indian cricket, producing legends such as Sachin Tendulkar, who gave us glorious memories.
While my love for the sport grew stronger, there wasn’t any girl in our neighbourhood back then in Jalandhar who played the male-dominated sport. Finally, my passion for the sport found a vent when my father, whose best life memories too were playing cricket in his college days, became my coach. We spent hours on the terrace of our house playing cricket in the evening. My father taught me the techniques and finer nuances of the game. Being a fast bowler, he loved to bowl and taught me the importance of footwork while batting. Our cricket became popular in the neighbourhood and often we found scooterists stopping on the road opposite our house to watch my cricketing shots in admiration.
Studying in an all-girls convent school, I played most sports but cricket was special. My batting evoked much adulation from peers and teachers alike. Those fielding used to get tired fetching the ball as I hit shots stroking the ball through the covers with well-timed wrist work. “How do you manage that? Your timing is perfect! Did someone coach you?” my teachers would say. All thanks to my father, I earned the title of “the girl who knows cricket” at school.
Years rolled by and I got busy with studies. By the time I was preparing for the Class 12 board exams, my dream of becoming a woman cricketer was forgotten. In those pre-internet days, though women did play cricket, our national team was relatively unknown.
Two decades on, times have changed and women’s cricket in India has come a long way. I visited the Lord’s Cricket Ground in London last year and seeing former Indian women’s cricket captain Mithali Raj’s T-shirt at the museum there made my heart swell with pride.
Last week, the news of the Shafali Verma-led Indian women’s cricket team winning the first ever ICC Under-19 World Cup was all over the media with a video of Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra bowing to our women cricketers as a respectful gesture being widely shared. The icing on the cake was when Tendulkar applauded the victory, saying the winners have given birth to many dreams.
The outstanding display of cricketing talent by our women’s team has left the world spellbound. The victory took me back to school to relive the days I enjoyed playing the sport. The future of women’s cricket is certainly bright and it is to the credit of the young girls, who not only took up the sport with all its struggles but also dared to live their dream.
aneesha.sareen@htlive.com
The writer is the bureau chief of Hindustan Times, Ludhiana