Sport saw a bevy of new heroes on Sunday (29 January) as the Indian women’s team won the inaugural U-19 T20 World Cup in South Africa by beating England in the final. This is the first time in history that India has won a women’s ICC event. This U-19 WC triumph not only gave India more motivation for the future. But the tremendous potential to take the Indian women’s cricket team to great heights. It also takes some great stories. On how the players overcame great struggles to reach the top.

Savitri revealed after India’s victory how locals mocked her for her decision to send her daughter to boarding school and how rumors spread that she was selling her daughter while her brother heard people call her a “witch”. “Ladki ko beech diya, ladki ko galat dhande mey daal diya hai, ye saari baatein mere muh pe bolte they (I sold my daughter, I put her in the wrong line).

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People used to say those things to my face)” Savitri said in an interaction with Indian Express. “Now my house is full of guests and I don’t have enough blankets for them. The neighbors who have never had a glass of water from my house are helping me now,”

he added. Hamari ghar ko daayan ka ghar kahaa jaata thaa. (They called my mother a witch, they said she killed her husband first, then her son. If anyone sees her on the street, they change their route. Our home was called Witch House.)” said Savitri’s eldest son Rohit.

Rohit lost his job in the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which left the family totally dependent on Savitri to make ends meet. There was no small tragedy in her life as Savitri’s husband died in 2008 while their youngest son died from a snake bite in 2018. “We face floods every year. Half the time our farm is flooded by the waters of the Ganges”.

We depended on milk from our cow and buffalo (one each). We survived all these years thanks to our mother. He even forced me to graduate and now he wants me to prepare for government jobs. Archana Devi used to play cricket with Budhiman, who was only a year older than her.

He shot and the ball landed in a room under construction which we never built after his father died. Every time he used the bat to get the ball out of the rubble, this time he used his hands and was bitten by a cobra. He died in my arms on the way to the hospital. His last words were “Archana ko cricket khilao” (Let Archana play cricket).

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