A tempo traveller is on a 21-hour-long road journey from a town in Madhya Pradesh to Mumbai, carrying a group of 18 including the brother of fast bowler Kranti Gaud. On an Agra-Mumbai train is all-rounder Deepti Sharma’s brother. In Haryana, opener Shafali Verma’s father has just returned from a 300km round trip to a temple in Rajasthan. In a village in Himachal Pradesh, the brother of pacer Renuka Singh is hoping that there’s no work emergency on Sunday. In Mumbai, the families of Richa Ghosh, captain Harmanpreet Kaur and others have been doing the rounds of temples, too.
As the Indian women’s cricket team prepares to take on South Africa in the ICC World Cup final on Sunday, their families, too, are doing their own preparations — travelling, praying, waiting in anticipation for Mumbai, the city of dreams, to fulfil a national and personal dream.
“Aisa lag raha hai kahi saal ka sukha hai, us cheez ko hum bharne jaa rahe hai bilkul hara bara… ki hum jeetenge. (It feels like we are going to watch the end of years-long drought and make it green… with our win),” says Deepti’s brother, Sumit, who gave up his corporate job a decade back to support his sister’s dream.
Kranti’s brother, Mayank, is on his way to Mumbai, from their home in Ghuwara, in Madhya Pradesh, with 17 others, including the Ghuwara Nagar panchayat chairman, a former state-level cricketer and those who played tennis-ball cricket with her during her early years.
Renuka Singh Thakur with her family during a visit to her village Parsa in Himachal Pradesh earlier this year. (Special Arrangement )
“We have hired a tempo traveller. We will reach Mumbai on Sunday morning. Many more people wanted to come but there wasn’t enough space. The entire Ghuwara is praying that India wins the World Cup,” he says. Before setting out for Mumbai, he, too, went to the temple. “My mother will do a special puja at home,” he says.
In Parsa village, near Rohru town in Himachal Pradesh, Renuka’s brother Vinod has a wish — to see her in a hand-drawn poster after winning the World Cup. During the semi-final against Australia, Renuka had drawn a peacock (mor) on a paper with the text: “dil maange mor”. Vinod wants her to pick a five-for in the final.
“Renuka di lives and breathes cricket. And a fifer in the World Cup final will be something that she will cherish as a reward for all her hard work,” he says. He said that their late father named him after cricketer Vinod Kambli. “He wanted either me or Renuka di to play for India. Woh bhi swarg se cheer karenge final main, Renuka aur team ko (He, too, will cheer for the team from heaven),” he says.
The village is known for its apple orchards, but the apple of everyone’s eyes is now Renuka, he says. “Yesterday, I was at a retirement party of a senior colleague, and then at a relative’s wedding at a nearby village. At both these places, the talk was only of the team’s win over Australia… Renuka di started playing cricket with local boys near a stream in our village. We pray that she plays her part in the win,” he says.
Vinod, who is employed as a pump operator in the irrigation department, is also praying that there is no work emergency on Sunday.
In Rohtak, Haryana, Shafali’s father, Sanjeev, is back from a visit to the Mansa Devi temple in Dehmi, Rajasthan.
“While she was not part of the Indian team earlier, much of the talk between us was that if the World Cup is in her destiny, it will happen. The day she got the call as the replacement player for Pratika Rawal, she called me and said, ‘Papa, visit the Mansa Devi temple at Dehmi to pray for me’. The whole family visited the temple and prayed for Shafali as well as the Indian team to win the World Cup. And we will visit again after winning the World Cup,” he says.
In Adelaide, Australia, where he is visiting his sons, Kamaldeesh Singh Sodhi, Harmanpreet’s coach, plans to visit a gurdwara. One of his sons, Yadwinder Singh, who also coached the Indian captain, is with him, too.
“We are so far away, but our prayers and wishes are with Harmanpreet and her team. I spoke to Harmanpreet’s father after the win over Australia. He told me, ‘sir, your daughter and her team have defeated Australia’. I could see the World Cup coming to this team and that’s what we will all be praying for tomorrow. Our entire family, sons and daughters-in-law, will be going to pray at the gurdwara,” Kamaldeesh says.
Down south in Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, Naresh, left-arm spinner Sree Charani’s physical education teacher at DAV School who first spotted and nurtured her talent, is on his way to Visakhapatnam for personal work. He says he will watch the game on his phone. “Shree Charani was very good in Kho-Kho… When she picked up cricket, I knew that she would excel, as her fitness and endurance levels were very good. The entire school sees her as their role model, and to watch her play in India colours is a special feeling for each student,” he says.
Wicket-keeper batter Richa Ghosh’s parents, Manabendra and Swapna, and sister Shomashree were at the stadium for India’s games against New Zealand and the semi-final. “We, and the families of other players, understand that these girls need their biggest supporters, their families, on the ground too,” Manabendra says.
“One rule which we follow is to never talk about cricket before or after any match. When she suffered the injury, I congratulated her on the team’s win and gave her a thumbs-up; she knew she would come back. To see her play a role in the semi-final win against Australia is something which we cannot describe in words. It’s the girls’ hard work that has brought them here. They have taught us to dream, and they are making our dream come true in this World Cup,” he says.
History is calling, families are praying, fans are hoping. Sunday evening can’t come sooner.
— With inputs from Vinayakk Mohanarangan and Nihal Koshie
(From left): India players celebrate after defeating Australia in the semifinal; Harmanpreet Kaur’s coach Kamaldeesh Singh Sodhi along with his family at Adelaide; Vinod Singh Thakur, brother of Renuka Singh Thakur, with mother Sunita Thakur and wife Sakshi Thakur at a village temple. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty and Special Arrangement) 
Renuka Singh Thakur with her family during a visit to her village Parsa in Himachal Pradesh earlier this year. (Special Arrangement )
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