THE FIRST DAY OF THE WOMEN’S PREMIER LEAGUE (WPL) begins in Mumbai on Saturday, with the Gujarat Giants and Mumbai Indians playing the first match.
Sneha Deepthi of the Delhi Capitals, a 26-year-old mother of a two-year-old, sees it as an opportunity to return to professional sport. Then there’s Royal Challengers Bangalore batswoman Poonam Khemnar, 28, who recalls her parents’ opposition to her playing cricket.
There’s also Australia legend and Delhi Capitals captain Meg Lanning, 32, who retired from the game after leading her country to a gold medal victory at the Commonwealth Games last August. She spent her time traveling and even “making coffee and washing dishes” in a cafe. Last month, she led Australia to the women’s T20 World Cup title, her fifth World Cup victory, four in T20s and one in ODIs.
Nat Sciver-Brunt, 30, of England, who recently took a break to “focus on her mental health and well-being,” will join the Mumbai Indians. She returned from her break as England’s vice-captain for the T20 World Cup, where she finished as the tournament’s second-highest run-scorer.
Harmanpreet Kaur, captain of India and the Mumbai Indians, predicted that the WPL, which runs from March 4 to March 26, would change lives and raise the standard of the game in the country. “We’re going to get some good talent, and I’m sure the gap between India and Australia sides will narrow,” said Kaur, who played a heroic knock in India’s World T20 semi-final loss to Australia last month.
A few parents also assisted in pushing the doors open. Shafali Verma’s parents in Haryana’s Rohtak chopped off her hair so she could pass as a boy and compete in local tournaments. Shafali went on to become India’s youngest player, male or female. India won the inaugural U-19 Women’s World Cup under her captaincy.
Shafali’s opening partner at Delhi Capitals could be Sneha, who made her India debut in 2013 alongside Smriti Mandhana, the league’s top earner and RCB captain. Sneha’s cricket career did not take off, and she married at the age of 22. She has now made a successful return to the domestic circuit and secured a WPL contract worth Rs 30 lakh.
For some players, the World League is a time to remember – and miss – loved ones who are no longer with them. “I can’t express how much I miss him,” Gujarat Giants vice-captain Sneh Rana, 29, said of her late father, even as she expressed how happy her family was for her.
Devika Vaidya, a UP Warriorz all-rounder, said she decided to retire from cricket at the age of 21 after losing her mother in 2019. The Covid-19 lockdown caused her to reconsider her future. I realised my mum is always there for me — whether I’m playing, not playing, crying, laughing, or winning matches. “Now that I’ve accepted that fact, it’s much easier for me to deal with it,” she explained.
Renuka Singh Thakur, a Royal Challengers Bangalore player, has a tattoo of a father playing with his daughter that she got in memory of her father, Kehar Singh Thakur, who died in 1999. “I got that tattoo with the first paycheck I got from cricket. “I’ve missed him at every stage of my life, from my first day of school to my first state match to my international debut,” she explained.
