train from here to chandor and those days, you know, transport was not up to the mark. we used to rely on a local train because there was no training facilities available in chandor, so i had to come to calcutta those days, it was used to call calcutta, now is kolkata. if it was not for my parents supported me, ithink- i would be where i am today because at that time still, . things in india were not as not as open as they are today. - women s cricket has made a lot of progress and we are getting so many good young women cricketers now and many of the families are supporting their kids to try and pursue cricket as their career, which was not the case in the past. for my grandparents, it was very difficult to process that their granddaughter was getting into sport, and a sport where it s a rough sport and none of my cousins
than his son. growing up, being a mumbai cricketer, one name - is for sure, that s| sachin tendulkar. ithink.. i mean, at that time, - i should not like watching a cricket a lot but the thing| was in my family, everyone was so crazy in the moment . sachin tendulkar should come to bat, like, leave everything, . come here and watch the game. the moment he gets out, tv s off, that s it. - sachin played a big role in my career a big influence, you can say because growing up with him, you know, like, you know, he was a role model for all of us as youngsters. and then, we start following cricket and we become mad and wherever cricket is to play, wejust keep watching and watching and watching. my first coach was a big fan of kapil dev. so he s, like, he would tell me, like, you have
when i got that offer, initially, i got hesitate. but then i realised if this movie can motivate young girls and boys to play sport, i think that will be the huge thing for me. when it comes to cricket, india is unstoppable. the way they ve played their brand of cricket that they ve played in the longest format, like the test cricket or the one dayers, i think they re growing in stature and as far as women s cricket is concerned, yes, we definitely need a trophy in our cabin but the way the team has transformed, it definitely shows that there is a lot of scope of forming a very strong side in the coming years. yeah, i think myjourney has not been smooth. i it s been, like, ups and downs, ups and downs from the time l i ve started playing. but i strongly believe that it s these moments that l
to be like kapil dev. you have to bowl and bat like him, so i started as an all rounder, i used to be a fast bowler and then, i would bat as a top order batter, as an opening batsman. so the challenges that - i faced growing up with no women s cricket existed, . so for a girl playing cricket, that was very rare. so, i think i did not - have a place to practise so i used to practise with my brothers. . and i understood the other. challenges we faced as girls, we were always playing these and stuff like that, so there was always - an issue for the wash rooms and stuff like that. so, if you are playing over- here, sometimes the wash rooms used to be really far i like a ten minute walk, i think but now the good things now times have - changed, you know? people actually treat - women s cricket as equal as men s cricket. i used to be the only girl, 300, 400 boys but now, i i see other girls take up - the sport, pick up, you know, and playing cricket and competing with the boys. i th
them that, no, we re going for a cricket tournament, their reaction would be of, oh, girls play cricket? i did not feel insulted, but i felt weird from the way that people reacted to it, because these things, yes, for a moment, it would hurt, or sometimes i would wonder, what sort of comments are these? what sort of questions? but over the years, then i realised it could be because because of the lack of awareness, of knowing that girls could also play cricket and to change that perception, it took a long, long, long time. i still remember the first time when i got the call, so i was sleeping but i was not getting sleep like, pretending to be sleeping, and my dad s phone rang i and my dad said hello, like this, and then - he started crying, so i knew, 0k, fine, dude. it s happened. it s finally happened. one of the coaches had called up and he said, i