‘India’s win can change the mentality towards women’s cricket… so many from small villages will get confidence that they too can represent country’

But there were other reasons too. Not all coaches might know how to coach girls. Also some boys would be wary that bowling fast will end up hurting the girl. So punches are pulled.

The Maharashtra women’s team was already in celebration mode on Sunday morning, as we had won the maiden Senior Women’s T20 trophy, beating Madhya Pradesh by 12 runs in the final. Shafali Verma had been playing this tournament when she was called up to replace Pratika Rawal in the World Cup semifinal.

I have played for India in the past, and can talk a little about how this World Cup win matters, and not just to the 15 in the squad. Women’s cricket has come a long way, yet needs a lot many things to fall into place to keep these results coming.

The Indian women’s team celebrate after winning the World Cup. (Express Photo | Narendra Vaskar)

When I started playing for Maharashtra 12-13 years ago, there were no inter-district matches. Now we regularly get talent not just from Pune, our main hub, but increasingly from Kolhapur, Nasik and Aurangabad where women want to play professionally. Where earlier the Sahara Cricket Club in Kolhapur produced Ranji players, now women are emerging from the same nurseries. We have always dreamt big, and told the girls that playing for India should be the target.

But earlier there used to be just just 2-3 day camps ahead of any big tournament. This time, we had a two-month long camp, with focus on fitness and fielding. Our Maharashtra team support staff is also along the lines of the Indian team – trainer, physio, nutritionist and doctors, when needed. We have access to gyms and the association will arrange for indoor practice facilities if it rains. It’s a far cry from when we started – eating anything that was available, not always getting nets to train. Now women’s cricket is a priority for every serious state association.

Changing times

Maharashtra has a women’s T20 league and matches are shown live, so there’s an opportunity to get noticed. It was heartening to know that the Maharashtra Cricket Association matched the Rs 40 lakh official prize money with an equal incentive amount. This was done a day before India won the World Cup, so the support has been consistent.

India’s win can change the mentality towards women’s cricket in these parts. So many from small villages will get the confidence that they too can win and represent the state and country. We too were from smaller places – Smriti Mandhana from Sangli, and me from Kolhapur. There were no facilities when we started in 2004-05, and we could make it only because we had very supportive families. If we look back to when I started playing professionally, we had to go against a lot of people who were not exactly happy that we were playing this sport.

I would be the only girl on the ground, playing amongst boys. I remember being clearly told cricket was not a career for girls, and this was in a gully game. It was said as if the advice was for my benefit, not because my playing made them uncomfortable.

But cricket was in my blood. My father, kaka (paternal uncle) and mama (maternal uncle) all loved the sport and played for the local club team. We weren’t particularly well off, and equipment was out of reach. But the love for cricket was such that all those elders happily supported me. They told me to enjoy the game, play with no pressure.

Back then there was no social media. I remember me and Smriti would go to watch Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami and Sulakshana Naik practice. We copied their training programmes when we first entered the Indian team. In Maharashtra, Punam Raut was considered a fitness freak. Now, everyone is working hard to be fit. There’s a million ideas to be implemented, but I will only say – now that the number of matches women play has increased, we need to match that with improved fitness and nutrition. We need to get stronger, so that we win more.

As told to Shivani Naik