We met the two sisters in a small village thousands of miles away from where the main event took place.
India just launched one New women’s cricket tournament, attracted a whopping $500 million in private investment, and it felt like a pivotal moment. A sports career for young women is no longer just a pipe dream. Now there could be economic opportunity – even stardom.
Most of the players on the flashy new stage come from small, humble towns, like Harmanpreet Kaur, who rose from a village in Punjab to the top of her game, doggedly and persistently. despite all obstacles.
We wanted to know what it looks like for young Indian girls who have different dreams.
So we headed to Dharoki village, Ms. Kaur’s home province, where we met a group of cheerful young girls who were training under the guidance of a police officer who had reclaimed a corner of the land. of his family into a practice field. Among them are Naina, 13, and her sister Sunaina, 14.
The Women’s Premier League has just started its second season show off a lotbut back then, in the spring, it was still fresh as we watched the girls run a two-mile warm-up loop around the village, practice with much giggles and then disappear on their bikes in dark.
Only when we climbed the rickety stairs into the one-room house where this photo was taken – the girls’ parents both worked as cleaners – did we fully understand what the cricket tournament meant. how.
In India, any promise of upward mobility is hampered by the country’s struggle to create enough jobs. For women, that challenge is compounded by the common view that their place is at home.
Now, cricket may offer another path for some. Extremely popular in India, it is played or watched in almost every home.
“High nationalism in sports gives women a certain license to express themselves in the world in a way that almost nothing else can,” Sohini Chattopadhyay wrote in an article. New book about Indian female athletes.
Naina, Sunaina and their teammates are still practicing their skills, still cycling through the mustard fields to get to the training ground. Last year, the two sisters were selected to compete at a higher level, competing in other districts.
They came back with a piece of advice: Girls must speak up so the whole cricket field can hear them. Maybe there’s a life lesson in there, but for now, it’s clear they’ve taken the on-field advice to heart.
On a recent visit back to Dharoki, we witnessed them once again running around, and as they teased their mentors and joked around with each other. They finished with a new strength exercise, taking turns climbing a rope hanging from a bodhi tree.
There is a wonderful air of confidence about them.
And they were really loud.
Photo by Atul Loke, written by Mujib Mashal
