Felt proud to see my daughter winning the match against Pakistan: Ekta Bisht's father

Indian left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht got the team home to a cruising win in a crucial game against arch-rivals Pakistan. India were bundled up for a mere 169 in their 50 overs and it looked like an easy win for Pakistan. However, Mithali Raj had a trump card to throw in the second inning and that proved to be the masterstroke. Ekta started the downfall of the women in green and also dealt the final blow.

She ran havoc through the top order grabbing the wickets of Zafar, Nawaz, and Javed in the space first eight overs leaving the Pakistan team panting at 14/4. She even finished the things off as the two tail-enders were sent back on consecutive deliveries to give India a comprehensive win. However, Ekta’s five-for was an inspired one. Her performance has a huge history behind it as she bagged another five-for against Pakistan in the space of 5 months.

The inspiration

She comes from a humble background. Her father was an army man and had three children. After he retired from the army, the pension was not enough for him to provide Ekta with all the cricketing equipment. He thanked his relatives and the neighbours who helped her get where she is today.

The humbled father said, “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 neighbors. Today, I feel happy to see my daughter play for the country. Felt proud to see my daughter winning the match against Pakistan.”

The struggle

Ekta practised at the Liaqat Ali Khan’s academy in Almora. At the time when the Indian women’s spinner used to practice there were no turfs at the academy at all. The coach used to buy balls with his own money. Liaqat revealed that he found her when one of his students told him about Ekta practicing with the boys with a plastic ball. He then got hold off her and gave her the necessary training.

He also revealed that the 31-year-old wanted to be a medium pacer but her height did not allow that. So she became a spinner instead.

He said, “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 center.

“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. 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,” he added.

Liaqat also advised her to move to Uttar Pradesh in order to succeed and Rita Dey who was a cricketer and a selector took her to Uttar Pradesh and Ekta went on to lead the Under-19s team. Dey said, “Her (Ekta) biggest asset was her willingness to learn and hard work.”