CHENNAI: It was a sultry June afternoon in Chennai. Uma Kashvi, the 15-year-old all-rounder from Karnataka, was out on the field at the MA Chidambaram Stadium during the T20 series between India and Sri Lanka Women’s U19 teams. Vijitha, her mom who works in IT sector, was sitting in the stands, taking office zoom meetings while keeping an eye on her daughter with husband Praveen Kumar for company. Vijay — Praveen's younger brother and Kashvi's uncle — meanwhile had left his IT job, taking up part-time work so that he could focus on the teenager's cricket and travel with her for games
For the last seven years, it has been their story. Vijay has travelled for well over 500 matches from the time she started playing and Vijitha for a little over 400 of them. Praveen also travels whenever he can. Wednesday was no different as all three of them were in Bilaspur where Kashvi is set to play in Women's U19 T20 Challenger Trophy which begins Friday. All the effort, hard work, perseverance and sacrifice made by the family and the teenager in the last few years got its due recognition as they watched Kashvi become the youngest to be picked in the Women's Premier League.
At 15, she surpassed Deeya Yadav (16 when got signed last year) as Delhi Capitals signed the all-rounder for `10 lakh. "Genuinely, so happy," as ecstatic Kashvi told this daily. "I was in my room with the team and my parents and uncle are here too, but not staying together. They are all so happy. We were just screaming. My uncle cried," she added.
The overwhelming emotions of Vijay is understandable considering the journey of Kashvi. After all, it was the uncle who first saw Kashvi's talent while playing at home and wanted to see if it was something she would be interested in. And the last eight years have been spent working towards making her the explosive batter and off-spinning all-rounder.
From the time Kashvi was eight, she started playing with the boys, went through the fitness drills despite not getting much game time in the middle. Even before the pandemic (2019), she used to wake up at 5 AM, do running, come back for exercises before Vijay, who was working in IT at the time, did some cricketing drills with her. The entire day would be school before two hours of fitness from 4.30 to 6.30PM. For the next 90 minutes, it would be cricketing drills before she hits the bed. "For almost 6-8 months, I did 30 overs of throwdowns to her with a semi-soft ball. I did bowl around 180 balls every day with sidearms and stuff," Vijay recalled.
And when she started playing corporate matches, more often than not, she would end up being the 11th batter, rarely getting a chance to bowl while fielding for 30 odd overs because she was young. With Vijitha and Praveen for support, Vijay would travel for every match of hers. Vijitha would accompany her, working from venues, so that if the teenager needed her, she was there, especially in remote grounds where the facilities might not be great for women. At one point, Vijay decided to quit his job, stay away from marriage or relationships to focus on Kashvi's cricket. And it was not an easy decision.
"I wanted to stay away from all these relationships and focus on her cricket when I saw her interest in the sport. My brother and my sister-in-law work in IT. I decided to take a part-time job and spend more time with her travelling to the grounds. My parents, they won't like the decisions that we take, not getting married or not being around with the people. We don't go to functions. For us, to go once a year for a holiday for 3-4 days is an achievement. It is challenging and there are a lot of questions that have been asked by parents, elders, and all, but if you want to do something, you need to sacrifice a lot of other things. I should say hats off to my sister-in-law because she works at a very critical phase of her career, like she's an IT manager and all. But she attends all the matches, she sits in the ground, attends all the meetings from the ground because she feels that for a girl there might be a support that is needed," Vijay explained.
Travelling is not the only sacrifice they had to make. When Kashvi started training at the NICE cricket academy with Arjun Dev and Kiran Uppoor on the outskirts of the city, the parents stayed in their Bellandur home while Vijay and the teenager rented a place nearby for convenience. "There are plenty of sacrifices for all of us. Our family split into two parts. It helps her in practice, to do a lot of gym, etc. We prioritize that, and few of us like to take one step lower in our professions so that we will be able to give her more time, we'll be able to travel with her. I have travelled for 500 matches. My sister-in-law came for more than 400 matches. And she is happy to see us at every ground," he said with a smile.
There were other support systems too. Her school provided ample support for her to travel and the family ensured she was ready when the exams came. Eventually, she broke into the Karnataka age-group teams and even captained the U15 team. Rated highly in the domestic circuit, Kashvi can hit big sixes and is a livewire on the field. She has already played for India U19 and is in the scheme of things for the U19 World Cup to be played in Bangladesh next year. While the next few months offer a lot of chances to Kashvi to show the world what she is capable of, for now, the teenager, her family and coaches will be pleased to see the recognition. After all, it is just the first few pages of what will be a long, exciting adventure.
