CHENNAI: In the hours leading up to the T20I match between India and South Africa at East London late on Thursday night, not many expected Amanjot Kaur to make her debut. Not even her father Bhupinder Singh or coach Nagesh Gupta. But there was one person who was confidently looking forward to seeing her on television.
At her home at Phase V, Mohali, Smt Bhagwanti, Amanjot’s Dadi ji (paternal grandmother), promptly asked to switch on the TV around 9 PM, asking, ‘Arey, where is Aman?’. “I was afraid that she might not get a game and it was late at night. So, I told her that the match would come on TV tomorrow and asked her to sleep. But around 11, she saw that the lights were on and asked us what was going on as we were watching the match. Aman was playing as well, so she sat down and enjoyed the entire match with us,” a delighted Bhupinder told this daily.
Call it destiny or a Dadi’s goodwill, the Punjab all-rounder got her India cap on Thursday — with several players in the Indian camp falling sick due to allergies — and immediately made an impression. Coming in at 69/5, Amanjot smashed an unbeaten 30-ball 41, putting up a 76-run stand for the sixth wicket alongside Deepti Sharma. Thanks to her innings, India finished with 147/6 and registered a 27-run WIN in the first match of the tri-series.
While everyone watching the match were blown away by her innings, Bhupinder and Nagesh aren’t surprised one bit. The chance to play might have come with some luck, but they both have been with her in every step of the way till she reached the top. All Bhupinder, who runs his own business as a carpenter, has ever told Amanjot since the day she fell in love with sport, playing gully cricket with the boys in their neighbourhood, is to play the sport and do it well. And he has done everything in his power to make sure she was able to do that.
“Watching her play with so much passion, I somehow wanted to put her in an academy, but I couldn’t and a few years went by. I searched around the districts of Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula but could not find any. They told me that she has to join the school to train in the academy in sector 26 and I was ready. There were no slots there and someone told me about the academy in sector 32 with Nagesh sir. I went and stood in the gate all day and he asked me to bring Amanjot. Once seeing her bowl, he took her under his wings immediately,” says Bhupinder.
Amanjot was 15, it was 2017 and that was just the first step. Every morning, he would drop her at five in the morning and pick her up after training and do the same in the evening as well. He would adjust his business hours to make sure he was there to drop and pick up Amanjot. There were days where he would drop her early in the morning, sleep for two-three hours at the Gurudwara nearby and pick her up after during the cold winters.
It comes as no surprise that Amanjot credits her success to her father. “My dad played a big role in my career. His struggle is much bigger than mine, he left half of his work for me so that I don’t miss out on my academy. The travelling time would take up almost 3-4 hours in a day but he managed that. If he didn’t do that, I would not have been here today,” she said after the match on Thursday.
If Bhupinder took care of things off the field, Nagesh was handling everything cricket for Amanjot. While she started off as a bowler, soon Nagesh identified the batter in her and developed her into an all-rounder. They used to work for seven hours a day, morning and evening sessions for fitness, specific skills, and practice matches whenever possible. "He talks to her every day, stays in touch with her through every tournament, and has put in all his effort on her," says Bhupinder.
As she rose through the ranks, Amanjot shifted to Chandigarh when they got affiliation from the BCCI in 2019 and even captained the side. Ahead of the 2022 season, she returned to Punjab again. “She had gotten all the opportunities in Chandigarh and wasn’t being challenged much. In Punjab, Harmanpreet Kaur is there, Taniya Bhatia is there. When you are in a team with competition, you will grow faster,” says Nagesh, who coaches in an academy in Peer Muchalla, Panchkula.That is exactly what happened as her prolific performances led to the national call-up for the tri-series.
One of the things they worked on with respect to her batting before the 2022 season was her off-side game. "The way she created room to hit those boundaries on the off-side yesterday (Thursday) we had particularly worked on them and it was heartening to see her utilise them," said a happy coach.
After the player of the match performance against South Africa, Amanjot duly dedicated her award to Nagesh. “The only personal coach I have ever had is Nagesh sir. I had started out as a bowler, but for me to now be considered a batting all-rounder is a big thing. Much of this has been possible because of him. It's quite incredible what he's done for me, how much he's worked on me,” she said.
Thursday was a day of many firsts for Amanjot — making her debut, winning the POTM award, addressing her first press conference. From not being expected to even play, to finishing off with all that in a day's time was "unreal" for her. But now, everything has changed and for the better.
Come Monday — when India take on West Indies — it will not just be her Dadi ji, who will be switching on the TV to ask 'where is Aman?'. Every Indian cricket fan will be asking the same.