‘Early rejections made her stronger’ I wanted to prove myself and thanks to God, it worked, says Harmanpreet
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.
Harmanpreet Kaur scored a brilliant hundred in Derby on Thursday as underdogs India went through to the final of Women’s Cricket World Cup defeating Australia by 36 runs after the game was reduced to 42-overs a side.
After electing to bat first on a rain-marred day, India lost the prize wicket of Smriti Mandhana early in the innings, before Punam Raut fell in the 10th over with the score at 35. It was then that captain Mithali Raj (36) and Kaur steadied the ship for their side before the latter unleashed the carnage. Kaur slammed six sixes and 21 boundaries to score 171 off just 115 deliveries, the joint fifth highest score in the history of women’s ODI cricket.
“Today’s plan was just watch the ball, hit it hard and this is what I was doing. Some areas they were bowling well but I just wanted to hit and rotate the strike,” Kaur said.
“I didn’t get a chance to bat in the whole tournament. Today when I got the chance I just wanted to utilise it, this opportunity, because today was the day where I wanted to prove myself, and thanks to God, whatever I was thinking, (worked). Mithali and Deepti scored really well and Veda scored really well.”
The blitz was required from Kaur as India didn’t have the cushion to build their innings slowly after those eight overs were reduced. However, with 281 on the board, it seemed like a score that should pose a threat to the side that had won on all previous occasions when they reached the last-four stage. It was quite a single-handed show that guided India throughout as apart from her and Veda Krishnamurthy’s 10-ball 16, no other batter had a strike rate of more than 100.
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