Uma Chetry was barely a couple of years old when she started playing cricket at her residence in Bokakhat in Assam’s Golaghat district. While her elder siblings would play the sport on the kutcha roads of the village, she would emulate them indoors.
Using a stick as a makeshift bat, Uma would send big round potatoes whizzing past unsuspecting family members as she hit fours and sixes at will. When she turned three, her mother Dipa bought her a plastic bat and a ball, and Uma made it a point to practice everyday.
“We soon realised that she is fond of cricket. She would play with the local boys of her age and often discuss a thing or two with her elder brothers,” Dipa tells Sportstar. Back then, Dipa of course did not imagine that someday Uma would pursue the sport seriously and make it to India’s national squad. On Sunday evening, as Uma made it to the India senior women’s squad for its tour of Bangladesh, hard work and determination paid off for the Chetrys.
“It’s an incredible feeling to see your daughter making the State proud. Things were not easy for her, but with sheer determination, she continued chasing her dreams,” Dipa says.
Dipa played a significant role in her daughter’s journey too. With Uma’s father Lok Bahadur being a small-time farmer, there would be times when the family - Uma and her four brothers - would struggle to make ends meet. But that wasn’t a deterrent for the youngster.
Even though not many in the village took her decision of playing with boys in the right spirit, Dipa encouraged her daughter to follow her passion.
I did not want her to stop playing just because she was a girl,” Dipa says.
Soon, Uma started training under local coaches - Raja Rahman and Mehboob Alam - and would travel far to train regularly.
“I also told her that she should not take her studies for granted,” the mother adds. So, in the mornings, Uma would train for a while and then travel to Bokakhat Hindi High School, and again play once the school was over.
Around 2011, she caught the eye of Ajoy Sarma, the treasurer of Golaghat District Sports Association. “We saw her play with boys, who were slightly older than her. But she looked quite determined and was very competitive on the field. We were quite impressed with her, and eventually, we provided her with all the support,” Sarma says.
Sarma pushed her case and soon, Uma was on Assam Cricket Association’s radar. By 2017, she was part of the Assam state team. and went on to make every opportunity count. In the last domestic season, she scored 194 runs in six one-dayers, at an average of 32.33, whereas in five T20 innings, she scored 120 at a strike rate of 88.88.
Her determined show earned Uma a spot in the India team for the Emerging Asia Cup in Hong Kong as well. Uma’s journey has just begun and she hopes to make every opportunity count. Onwards and upwards!
