Soumya Tiwari with her family in Bhopal. (Express Photo) As a young child, Indian U-19 vice-captain Soumya Tiwari was initially rejected by coach Suresh Chainani as he did not give training to girls at his academy in Bhopal after some girls dropped out of the academy.
Tiwari, whose father Manish Tiwari works as an election supervisor at the Bhopal Collectorate, started playing with a thaapi thapki (wooden stick used to wash clothes under a tap), and paper balls at their earlier Shahjahanabad residence in Bhopal back in 2015-16.
On Sunday, Tiwari played a crucial knock of 24 runs off 37 balls hitting the winning runs, in a tense chase for India Women’s U-19 team against England women’s U-19 team in the final of the ICC Women’s U-19 T20 World Cup at Potchefstroom on Sunday after England were bundled out for a score of 68 runs in 11 overs.
“Soumya would watch cricket on TV as a kid and would often take the wooden stick used to wash clothes from my wife Bharti and ask my elder daughter Sakshi to make paper balls for her and play in the living room. She would play mohalla cricket here and would sometimes complain as boys would not include her in their teams,” he recalls.
A young Soumya Tiwari.
“Later when we shifted to New Bhopal, I took her to Suresh Chainani for training. The first day, he refused to train as they did not train girls at the academy. Soumya cried constantly for two days before we again went to the academy and urged Sir to train her. He agreed and then made her field in an inter-club match. With time, her confidence grew and she would ask me to get her new helmets and gloves every time I went out of town,” said Tiwari Sr.
Prior to the final, Tiwari had scored a total of 82 runs including an inning of 22 runs against New Zealand in the semifinal and claimed three wickets in the tournament with her off spin. After being selected by Chainani at the Arera Cricket Academy at Old Campion ground in Bhopal, Tiwari played for the boys team of the academy and the coach initially groomed her as an off-spinner before concentrating on her batting.
India U19 captain Soumya Tiwari with her family. (Express Photo)
“Two of my girl trainees had left the game after they were dropped from state teams. So I was disappointed and decided not to train girls. When Soumya came with her father, I refused them initially but agreed after she persisted. I was impressed by her fielding and thought of her as an off-spin bowler. So we worked on her action and made her target the off-stump area and later finger spin on both cement as well turf wicket,” said the coach.
While the youngster has played in the U19 Challenger Trophy last season and also smashed a century apart from starring for Madhya Pradesh on domestic circuit, Chainani remembers one particular incident. “We were playing an inter-club tournament and Soumya was the only girl in our team. We batted first and after the first innings, the organiser told us that the girl cannot play in the tournament. I protested as they had allowed on the first hand but refused after our batting as Soumya had made a name for herself as a spinner in the local circuit. She came to me and told me that she will sit out as her team should not be disqualified and they should win. We won the match but her team spirit told us about her love for winning,” remembers the coach.
Post the final win, the Tiwari family was celebrating India’s victory. “Bhopal has been known for the love of hockey and the support of the royals too for cricket. While MK Pataudi visited the town often, JP Yadav has carried the legacy. Soumya has done the city proud and we have been getting calls from random people telling us that they are organising hawans and dua for her and the Indian team and to see her win the U-19 World Cup for India is a moment to cherish,” said Tiwari Sr.
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