KOCHI: A lot of people who would look at last season’s best under-16 wicketkeeper among girls in south zone, Jayalakshmi Dev, would perhaps think she is bit short for a cricketer.
At 4’9’’, short she might be, but this 15-year-old from Palkulangara in Thiruvananthapuram is turning that into an advantage.
“Height is a very desirable attribute for a person. But as a wicketkeeper, I am happy with my height. I think it helps me move faster behind the stumps,” says Jayalakshmi, who outclassed her fellow competitors when an opening came for a keeper in the senior state team, as a replacement for a short period in 2013.
While height is not one of the top parameters that judge the quality of a keeper, the fact that tallness impedes athletic ability behind the stumps makes this attribute indeed a worthy feature among wicketkeepers.
Having had a normal childhood in a village, Jayalakshmi was no different from any other girl in her neighbourhood. She and her friends stuck to the perceived gender-assigned roles and played mostly feminine games, leaving the more physical sports like cricket to the boys.
“But even when I was a kid, I liked watching cricket on TV. Adam Gilchrist was my favourite. However, then I never thought I would end up playing cricket,” Jayalakshmi says.
She started playing cricket three years ago, when she was in class eight at the NSS HSS in Palkulangara.
“I used to go to the Kerala University campus next to my school often to watch the cricket coaching there,” Jayalakshmi recalls.
“Girls had also been practising and one day I asked the coach to try me. He made me bowl a couple of balls and face a few deliveries. Then he asked me to keep. He was happy with the way I performed behind the stumps and asked me to continue as a keeper.”
Jayalakshmi does not fear the ball and is unflinching behind the stumps, noted her current coach V C Anu Ashok, who suggested her name to the Kerala Cricket Academy centre in Kottayam two years ago.
“She does not have the habit of running out of the ball’s path while collecting. Instead, she moves into the path and faces them bravely. Among girls, that itself is a big ask,” Anu said.
According to the coach, Jayalakshmi is likely to get a call-up into the under-19 state team soon.
“The current under-19 keeper, Deepthi Jayakumar, will grow out of the age-group next year and Jayalakshmi is the next in line. The national inter-zone matches start from the under-19 category onwards and if she makes it to the team, she will stand a greater chance of making it to the south zone team, and eventually to the Indian team,” Anu feels.