Guwahati: Sewali Kalita still repents her act one evening in July 2016, when she threw away her daughter and promising Assam all-rounder Jintimoni Kalita’s bat after she turned up late from her cricket training in Mangaldoi town.
The 19-year-old, who was recently roped in by the Mumbai Indians franchise for the upcoming Women’s Premier League (WPL) for Rs 10 lakh, took up the sport in 2016. For Sewali and her husband Nakul Kalita, a fourth-grade employee at the Department of Water Resources in Mangaldoi, a town situated around 68 km from Guwahati, Jintimoni’s exploits with the bat and ball came to light when her coach Mridul Tamuli summoned her parents one day for a felicitation event at the Mangaldoi Cricket Stadium.
A pack of gulab jamun (sweets) and a certificate was the first award Jintimoni received after her career’s first cricket tournament. The only female cricketer in a male team, coach Mridul successfully pursued her parents to continue her playing career, despite initial hesitation from the duo.
Even though the couple was partially convinced, the thoughts of a girl playing cricket till late in the evening, coupled with unsolicited murmurs from neighbours and relatives made the parents even more sceptical of their daughter’s choice until one day, a furious Nakul expressed his disapproval of their Jintimoni’s training sessions as she failed to return home by 6 pm.
As expected, Sewali was at the receiving end of her husband’s wrath and out of frustration, she threw away the cricket bat, signalling a premature end to her nascent career.
“I still regret that act, it was in the heat of the moment, and I didn’t even realise that I was crushing her dreams. She remained cool, and once I sat down with her, she pleaded with a thin hope of getting back to the cricket field. For Jintimoni, training is like brushing her teeth: she never misses a session. Thankfully, I also managed to convince my husband and ensured that she didn’t miss training after that day,” said Sewali in a candid conversation with EastMojo.
Jintimoni gradually started flourishing in whatever limited opportunities she got back in her hometown until the Assam Cricket Association (ACA) invited four female cricketers from each district for a camp to select the women’s Under-19 squad.
Accordingly, Mangaldoi district sent three female players. Jintimoni made it to the final team after attending the camp over the next three months. Her performances also counted nationally as she was included in the Challengers Trophy on two occasions, before eventually being drafted into the Indian Under-19 Women’s Quadrangular series last year that featured Sri Lanka and West Indies. She also made it to the list of probables for the inaugural U-19 World Cup, but couldn’t make it to the final team led by Shafali Verma.
A left-handed batter who also bowls seam, the teenager felt let down after being left out of the team even as her parents backed her to work harder while chasing her dreams. After concluding her assignments with the senior state team, Jintimoni headed back home for the off-season break.
In the meantime, the southpaw had registered herself for the WPL auction and desperately wanted to be a part of any of the five franchises. “She would have played even if she was bought for Re 1 at the auction,” her mother narrated.
However, on the day of the WPL auction, which took place in Mumbai on February 13, Jintimoni was left almost heartbroken as her name didn’t feature in the preliminary list of players being auctioned. Holding on to her phone, eagerly waiting in anticipation, Jintimoni almost gave up hope and asked her mother to switch off the TV before her father intervened and asked her to stay patient.
“She almost gave up all hope as her name didn’t feature, and was down to the last three names. Out of frustration, she asked me to switch off the TV. I started consoling her and asked her to double up her effort as it’s only the first edition of the WPL, and she can bounce back in the next year’s auction if she continues to perform on the field,” narrated Sewali.
There was more drama in store as the moment the auctioneer announced her name, the TV screen flashed a photograph of another cricketer, with Jintimoni’s name on it.
“Once she heard her name, she jumped in excitement, “Deuta moi pai golu (Dad, I have got it!), even as her father wanted to recheck if there was something wrong with the TV signal or the photograph on display. Thankfully the error was corrected, and when the paddle was raised by the Mumbai Indians, Jintimoni banged her phone in excitement…and innumerable calls and messages followed the next few days,” said an emotional Sewali.
“It didn’t matter how much she was bought for, what mattered the most for Jintimoni was the excitement of playing the first ever WPL and that too for a franchise like MI, led by the India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur. She can’t ask for more,” her mother said.
So how do Jintimoni and her family plan to utilise the amount?
Sewali came up with an instant reply, “We have quite a few loans to repay, and hopefully we can get rid of some of the financial burden with the amount. Even Jintimoni wants us to clear the dues, and support the family with her younger brother still in college.”
As Jintimoni embarks on a new assignment in Mumbai Indians colours, her parents are hopeful of the teenager getting a few games in the inaugural edition, starting Saturday with the MI side locking horns with the Gujarat Titans at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
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More than anything, for Jintimoni, the lone Assam player in the inaugural WPL, the experience of rubbing shoulders and sharing the dressing room with the likes of Harmanpreet, Natalie Sciver, Pooja Vastrakar and Amelia Kerr will add new dimensions to her all-round skills.
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