‘Early rejections made her stronger’

CHANDIGARH: On Friday, India woke up to a new star in women’s cricket. Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Kapil Dev and a host of Indian cricketers past and present tweeted about Harmanpreet Kaur’s brilliant unbeaten knock of 171 against six-time world champions Australia, which guided India to the final.

But dig deep into Harmanpreet’s life and a story of sacrifices, despair, rejection and triumph emerges from the dusty bylanes of Moga, a district in Punjab.

Born to a lower-middle class family, Harmanpreet always wanted to play cricket. But inspite of her parents, father Harmander Singh Bhullar and mother Satvinder Singh Bhullar putting in their all, it wasn’t enough.

Yadwinder Singh Sodhi, 34, her coach recalls: “Even after playing for India at a very young age, and having done well, Harmanpreet was struggling for a job. We requested Punjab Police to employ her, we even met former Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal a few times, but all we go in return was, “You are a female cricketer. There is no scope of employment with Punjab Police’. She went through all this.”

Harmanpreet, however, didn’t give up and based on former cricketer Diana Edulji’s recommendation, she landed a job with Indian Railways. “The rejections may have actually made her strong,” said Yadwinder, now a coach at Port Cricket Adelaide Club in Australia. “I remember talking to the DGP (Parminder Singh Gill) and asking him to induct her as DSP in Moga but he said that she wasn’t a Harbhajan Singh. I requested him to hire her as an Inspector at least, but even that plea was ignored.”

Incidentally, Harmanpreet was first spotted by Yadwinder’s father Kamaldeesh Singh Sodhi, who owned a school in Moga.

Kamaldeesh not only extended financial support to Harmanpreet, but also convinced her parents to let their daughter pursue cricket.

In 2005, when India played their first World Cup final against Australia in South Africa, Harmanpreet’s tryst with cricket began at Gyan Jyoti Public School. She was admitted in Class X and she was exempted all fees and provided with free bats, shoes and kit by the Sodhis. Over the next four years, she emerged as a big hitting top order batsman and made her India debut against Pakistan in 2009.

We faced opposition, some relatives could not relate to the idea of a girl playing cricket. But we egged Harman on. HARMANDER SINGH, Kaur’s father