I was born in your average home in Mumbai, India. So cricket was everywhere: on TV, on the radio, on every playground, on every street, at every nook and corner. But it was a sport that only the boys played and I’m not sure why but that really angered me. I couldn't for the life of me understand why girls wouldn't play cricket. So just to break that stereotype, I started to play with the boys and as it turned out, I was really good at it. I was a natural. I remember breaking glass windows while smacking the ball, taking diving catches and bowling underarm leg spin that would get me a lot of wickets. Most of my pocket money was spent on buying rubber balls which would always get confiscated by the elders in the neighborhood because we ended up breaking a lot of windows.
When I was in the 5th grade, I went to my dad and asked him to write a letter to the school principal to get us a cricket coach. Dad thought I was being my whimsical self and he wrote that letter to humor me. The Principal said “sure we’ll find a cricket coach” and she did keep her promise. My first cricket practice was to start on a Monday morning at 6.30 am. I was really excited, woke up bright and early and ran to school. The coach was there, I was there but unfortunately nobody else showed up. The coach said he didn't see the point of teaching one girl and to be honest, he wasn't too excited with the idea of girls playing cricket altogether. And there ended my cricket journey. Or so I thought…
Fast forward to 2011, I've moved to Canada, married the love of my life, and finished my MBA. I was watching the Cricket World Cup and I really started to enjoy the game and reminisce about the good old days. Just for kicks, I found a club (Kaisoca run by George Maharaj) and started playing cricket. The difference this time around was that we played with the real cricket ball often times against grown men who bowled pretty fast. I was quite honestly very scared at first. While batting, instead of getting in line with the ball I would move away from it. Bowling had its own set of challenges. I had no consistency whatsoever; line and length they kept saying and the ball would loop like a rainbow and most batsmen would help themselves to heaps of runs. Fielding, well at this point I was about 150lbs so definitely not the most agile player, so it was a challenge. Despite that, I loved the game so I continued. I suppose that 5th grader inside of me kept telling me not to give up, not to let cricket go so easily.
That year, TDCA held its first ever women’s league and our team played the finals and won. The women’s National Team Coach, George Codrington was watching the game and he invited a select few players to come out to national practice and try out. I batted and got out on 2 or something and I didn't get to bowl because our bowlers got the job done pretty fast. So understandably I failed to make an impression and wasn't invited to national practice. Durriya – another National Team Player wrote to George (without my even asking her!) saying that there might be a few other girls who might benefit from national practice and asked if we could come to practice. George said sure why not and we started going to these practices. I still didn't think I was good enough to make the team but I was disciplined; worked really hard at my cricket, bowled for hours, got fitter, shed about 30 lbs that year and it all paid off. In less than a year of playing, I got the call to represent Canada at the 2012 Americas Championship. We won the Americas and we were headed to the World Cup Qualifiers and I was the happiest person in the world. I thought to myself wow, the opportunity to compete against cricket giants like Sri Lanka and Pakistan! The opportunity to put Canadian Women’s Cricket on the map! It meant a lot!
A few months ago, we played the World Cup Qualifiers and fell way short of our goals. No doubt we were disappointed, dejected and I took a couple of months wondering whether it was time to hang up those boots. Yet again, that 5th grader inside me came back and said “keep going and this time come back stronger” and yet again I gave in. We don’t even know whether there’s going to be an Americas Championship in the near future, but ICC if you’re listening, the Canadian Women’s Cricket Team will be back and back with a bang. We’re getting ready to take on the world!
Cricket has made me ten times the woman I ever thought I could be. It has challenged me physically, mentally and emotionally and I've been able to do things that I never imagined I could do. I've made some wonderful friends along the way who have made this game a super fun experience. The MBA inside me can do the cost benefit analysis and say well was it worth it or the 5th grader inside me can say thanks for keeping me alive. Believe me when I say that what I have learned playing cricket has been equally valuable if not more than sitting in any academic classroom. It’s been an incredible journey and I’m finally starting to find my line and length too.
When I was in the 5th grade, I went to my dad and asked him to write a letter to the school principal to get us a cricket coach. Dad thought I was being my whimsical self and he wrote that letter to humor me. The Principal said “sure we’ll find a cricket coach” and she did keep her promise. My first cricket practice was to start on a Monday morning at 6.30 am. I was really excited, woke up bright and early and ran to school. The coach was there, I was there but unfortunately nobody else showed up. The coach said he didn't see the point of teaching one girl and to be honest, he wasn't too excited with the idea of girls playing cricket altogether. And there ended my cricket journey. Or so I thought…
Fast forward to 2011, I've moved to Canada, married the love of my life, and finished my MBA. I was watching the Cricket World Cup and I really started to enjoy the game and reminisce about the good old days. Just for kicks, I found a club (Kaisoca run by George Maharaj) and started playing cricket. The difference this time around was that we played with the real cricket ball often times against grown men who bowled pretty fast. I was quite honestly very scared at first. While batting, instead of getting in line with the ball I would move away from it. Bowling had its own set of challenges. I had no consistency whatsoever; line and length they kept saying and the ball would loop like a rainbow and most batsmen would help themselves to heaps of runs. Fielding, well at this point I was about 150lbs so definitely not the most agile player, so it was a challenge. Despite that, I loved the game so I continued. I suppose that 5th grader inside of me kept telling me not to give up, not to let cricket go so easily.
That year, TDCA held its first ever women’s league and our team played the finals and won. The women’s National Team Coach, George Codrington was watching the game and he invited a select few players to come out to national practice and try out. I batted and got out on 2 or something and I didn't get to bowl because our bowlers got the job done pretty fast. So understandably I failed to make an impression and wasn't invited to national practice. Durriya – another National Team Player wrote to George (without my even asking her!) saying that there might be a few other girls who might benefit from national practice and asked if we could come to practice. George said sure why not and we started going to these practices. I still didn't think I was good enough to make the team but I was disciplined; worked really hard at my cricket, bowled for hours, got fitter, shed about 30 lbs that year and it all paid off. In less than a year of playing, I got the call to represent Canada at the 2012 Americas Championship. We won the Americas and we were headed to the World Cup Qualifiers and I was the happiest person in the world. I thought to myself wow, the opportunity to compete against cricket giants like Sri Lanka and Pakistan! The opportunity to put Canadian Women’s Cricket on the map! It meant a lot!
A few months ago, we played the World Cup Qualifiers and fell way short of our goals. No doubt we were disappointed, dejected and I took a couple of months wondering whether it was time to hang up those boots. Yet again, that 5th grader inside me came back and said “keep going and this time come back stronger” and yet again I gave in. We don’t even know whether there’s going to be an Americas Championship in the near future, but ICC if you’re listening, the Canadian Women’s Cricket Team will be back and back with a bang. We’re getting ready to take on the world!
Cricket has made me ten times the woman I ever thought I could be. It has challenged me physically, mentally and emotionally and I've been able to do things that I never imagined I could do. I've made some wonderful friends along the way who have made this game a super fun experience. The MBA inside me can do the cost benefit analysis and say well was it worth it or the 5th grader inside me can say thanks for keeping me alive. Believe me when I say that what I have learned playing cricket has been equally valuable if not more than sitting in any academic classroom. It’s been an incredible journey and I’m finally starting to find my line and length too.