Jhulan on what makes her tick
From the dusty lanes of a small town in West Bengal to the hallowed Lord’s, Jhulan Goswami’s has truly been an inspiring journey. There was a time when the highest wicket-taker in the history of women’s one-day international cricket was a mere ball girl in backyard cricket.
“My cousins allowed me to play a bit only if some player failed to turn up. Otherwise, I was just a fielder for a few overs in their matches,” the unassuming Goswami, who featured in India’s both World Cup final appearances in 2005 and 2017, said with a smile.
In a freewheeling chat with Khaleej Times, the right-arm medium pacer opened up on how she fought with her parents to become a cricketer, why she cried after Diego Maradona’s Argentina lost a World Cup final and how she felt when Bollywood approached her for a biopic on her life.
Excerpts from the interview:
Q:The Indian women’s cricket team players became heroes after their World Cup final appearance this year. Even prime minister Narendra Modi invited the team to his residence. But you were also in the Indian team that reached the World Cup final in 2005. But that time you didn’t receive the same reception. What is the difference between then and now?
A:Well, as you said, this was my second World Cup final. Unfortunately we had also failed to win our first final and that match wasn’t televised. But we did make an impact even after the 2005 World Cup, but it wasn’t anything like what we saw after our final this year because there was no social media in 2005. Also matches were not televised. You know those days, the International Cricket Council (ICC) didn’t have the funds to televise the matches. That’s why most of the people in 2005 didn’t even know when our tournament started and when the final was played.
But this time the way ICC organised the tournament was brilliant. I think it was one of the best tournaments I have seen in my 15 years in international cricket. It was on par with men’s international tournaments. I would like to thank ICC for that. And the ICC digital team promoted the World Cup every day. This made a big difference.
Also, you know, before our first game in the World Cup against Pakistan, a story emerged that Pakistan’s player Kainat Imtiaz was a ball girl when we played the 2005 Asia Cup in Karachi. That story made headlines in India. Also we were playing our first match of the tournament against Pakistan just a few days after our men’s team lost to them in the Champions Trophy final.
And after that memorable run to the final, we knew the whole country was behind us. So we were expecting a big reception upon our return, but we couldn’t imagine that it would be so big. We never thought people would come out to the streets in Mumbai to welcome us. In fact, when we landed in Mumbai in the middle of the night, the entire airport was crowded with people that came just to see us. And the best thing was that there were so many young kids who were standing there with banners and bouquets in their hands. That really touched our hearts. And then the Prime Minister called us and said how proud he was with our performance. It was really incredible to know that the entire country was proud of us despite our final defeat. That I felt was a huge boost for the women’s game in India.
Q.Now can you tell us something about how it all started for you? What attracted you to sports? Was cricket the only game you played when you were a kid? And did your parents back you when you told them you wanted to become a cricketer?
A:Well, to answer your first question, I have to tell something very interesting. You know the first time I ever saw a televised match was in 1990. It was the World Cup final between Argentina and West Germany. Bengal is far away from Argentina, but most of the Bengalis, including my family members and friends, are huge Maradona fans. I remember when they lost that final, Maradona cried like a baby and, you know, everybody in my house was crying. And I don’t know what happened to me but I found tears rolling down my cheeks as well. You know, that was the first game of sports I ever saw on TV and it made such a big impact on my mind. That was the first time I discovered the sportswoman in me. Soon I started playing football and cricket with my friends.
Then I watched the 1992 World Cup cricket. I remember waking up early to watch those matches. People were talking about Sachin (Tendulkar), Mark (Greatbatch), Dipak Patel, you know all these things and the white ball, colored clothing fascinated me.
I used to live in my cousins’ place quite a lot and they used to play lot of cricket in the backyard. I used to be their ball girl. My cousins allowed me to play a bit only if some player failed to turn up. Otherwise, I was just a fielder in their matches. But when they used to finish their matches, I used to play, used to copy how they held their bats, and how they bowled. And slowly my interest got bigger and bigger in cricket.
And then the big day came in my life. The Eden Gardens in Kolkata hosted the women’s World Cup final between Australia and New Zealand in 1997. I was a ball girl! And it was the first time I saw a big women’s cricket match. That day I realised that if I played this sport professionally, one day I might get to play for my country. That was my dream when I saw a full house at Eden and big players like Belinda Clark and (Cathryn) Fitzpatrick.
But coming from a middle-class family in a small town like Chakdaha which was about 60km from Kolkata, it was difficult to chase my cricket dreams. We had no proper cricket facilities in our town, particularly leather ball cricket. We used to play a lot of tennis ball cricket. For proper training in leather ball cricket, you had to come daily to Kolkata and that wasn’t an easy task at such a young age when you also have to study.
And coming from a middle class family, you are always told that your top priority is your studies. The message from the parents was clear — you study we will support you but if you don’t study properly, we will get you married. So that was my life, but that’s the life of every middle-class girl in our country. And also my parents didn’t know anything about women’s cricket unfortunately. So you know it was extremely difficult for me to become a cricketer. I used to fight with my parents. It took me six months to fight with them before one day I somehow I managed to go to a coach, Swapan Sadhu. He was a very strict man. To attend his training camp, you have to reach there by 7:30 in the morning, otherwise the gates will be closed.
You know I used to get up at 4 in the morning and take the train at 5 to try to reach there by 7:25. Sometimes, I wasn’t allowed to get any practice even when there were train delays. As I said, he was very strict and would not listen to you if you got late. But he was a good man. And when I first joined his academy, he asked me if I was a batswoman or a bowler. I told him that I could do both because I used to play a lot of tennis ball cricket with my friends in my hometown and in tennis ball cricket you can’t just do batting or bowling. You have to do both otherwise, people won’t consider you as an important player.
After he listened to me, he asked me to bowl first. So when I bowled he saw my action, my height, the smoothness of my run up. He then asked me to come everyday and get four-five batsman out in nets! He sets high standards.
So I began training under him but it became difficult for me after a point of time with all the travelling. So I told him one day I would not be able to continue this way because my parents wanted me to focus on studies and buying bus and train tickets to Kolkata was turning out to be expensive for them. And you can’t blame my parents as well because they knew nothing about women’s cricket then.
But then one day Swapan Sir came to our house and explained everything to my parents. He managed to convince them that I could have a future in cricket. It was after that day that my cricket journey became smoother. You know I will forever be grateful to him. Not just me, but the entire generation of players that learned the game from him can never forget what he did for cricket.
Q:We have heard that there would be a Bollywood biopic on you. There have already been some highly successful sports biopics on icons like Milkha Singh, Mary Kom and MS Dhoni. How excited are you?
A:Yes, I was getting offers in the last two years. But I wasn’t very keen to do that. I used to tell them that if the Indian team performed well in international cricket then I could think about that. They said, ‘No your story is inspiring and it will motivate so many young girls’. So I said, ‘Fair enough, but cricket is not an individual sport, cricket is a team sport. So the team needs to do well also.’
That was my thought. Susanto Das, the director, came to see me again and I said, ‘Okay give me a day and I would think about it’. I thought yes if I manage to motivate one girl through my journey, that will be a huge achievement for me. So I told them to go ahead. They are working on it now. It will come probably next year. They have already short-listed two-three actors for the lead role. But they have to keep in mind my height!
Q:So how does it feel now when you look back? You had to fight with your parents to chase your cricket dreams, take an early morning train to Kolkata every day for training and now you are the most successful bowler in the history of women’s ODI cricket with 195 wickets...
A:You know my biggest goal in my life was to play at least one match for India and take a wicket in that match. After that if I had never got another chance to play for my country again, I would still have been happy. But when you start playing, your goals change every day. I played for India, I survived in international cricket and then my next goal was to be a consistent performer for India. So that’s how goals kept changing. But I began to realise the significance of achieving something like that only when I got close to the all-time record of 180 wickets. I did have some ups and downs, but I thought it would eventually happen if it was in my destiny. And it happened.
It was really incredible to know that the entire country was proud of us despite our final defeat. That I felt was a huge boost for the women’s game in India
My biggest goal was to play at least one match for India and take a wicket. After that if I had never got another chance to play again, I would still have been happy