Sabyasachi Bagchi: Ex-army man Kundan Singh Bisht was perhaps the happiest man yesterday, watching her daughter Ekta winning the Women’s World Cup match against Pakistan at Derby. Ekta scripted history on Sunday by bagging another five-for against Pakistan in less than five months time. The 31 year old Ekta did take five wickets against the arch rivals in the World Cup QualifierIt was a struggle during the early days of Kundan Singh as he just finished his services in the Indian Army, when Ekta went into the cricket coaching classes. Ekta was one of the three children in the family and it was tough for Kundan Singh to buy her a pair of gloves.
But inspite of poor family conditions Ekta’s father was keen to see her daughter excel in the field of cricket.
“I am grateful to my relatives and neighbours who helped me to turn my daughter’s dream into reality. The time she started her cricket, I was retired from the army and did not earn enough from pension. So, I needed the support of the neighbours. Today, I feel happy to see my daughter play for the country,” says Kundan.
Being an army man himself, it gave double delight for Kundan to see her daughter do well against Pakistan twice in a gap of just five months.
“Felt proud to see my daughter winning the match against Pakistan. “
Bisht went to Liaqat Ali Khan’s coaching centre in Almora, where there are still no turf wickets even today. The camp didn’t have nets either at the time Ekta went for her training. In the words of Liaqat, “It was difficult to practice in those days as we didn’t have any turf wickets, neither were there any nets. I used to buy the cricket balls to run the coaching centre.”
It was quite an interesting first meeting of Ekta with Liaqat.
“One day a boy came and told me there was a girl who practices with the boys at the Hookah club with plastic ball. I was impressed on watching her (Ekta) and didn’t waste an opportunity to include her in my camp.”
Young Ekta’s dream was to become a medium pacer like Kapil Dev but her height didn’t allow her.
“Her height was her biggest disadvantage. She had to overcome that and to me that has been her real success story. She realised later that medium fast bowling was not his repertoire.”
It was Liaqat who influenced Ekta to move out of Almora and go and settle in Uttar Pradesh. Rita Dey, who herself was a cricketer and a selector got her registered with Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association. Ekta went on to lead the U’19 Uttar Pradesh team. She later moved to Railways before breaking into the Indian squad in 2012.
According to Rita Dey, “Her (Ekta) biggest asset was her willingness to learn and hard work.