Patiala's Mannat Kashyap makes it to India's Under-19 women's cricket team

Ravneet Singh

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Patiala, November 23

Mannat Kashyap, a 18-year-old girl from Patiala, has been selected in India’s Under-19 women’s cricket team.

The 18-year-old cricketer will now participate in the home series against New Zealand.

The left arm off-spinner said she has been practising since her childhood. Her father introduced her to the sport at the age of nine. Having failed to find cricket coaching for girls here, she would play with boys most of the time.

Her father said, “No one in Patiala used to coach girls at the time. Institutes offered that she could play against boys only. I made her play with the boys. It was not easy. Instead of losing confidence, it rather made her strong.”

Kashyap said, “I have played against boys for most of the time. In fact, I started playing with the girls only at championship level. It helped build the confidence.”

The Class-12 student at Government Girls Senior Secondary School here idolises captain of India Women’s National Cricket team Harmanpreet Kaur and her cousin Nupur Kashyap who represented Punjab.

“Seeing didi play cricket made me want to play for India at International level,” she said.

She expressed her happiness over girls taking interest in the game. “Earlier, the girls’ matches did not even attract crowds but now, people do watch the game.”

Kashyap’s coach of about six years here, Juhi Jain, said, “Performance wise, she is doing her best.”