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Cricketfundas.com
Interviews : Gargi Banerjee |
Cricketfundas.com interviewed Gargi Banerjee,
former Indian women's opening batswoman to learn
some interesting things about women's cricket in
the 80s. B.V.Swagath caught up with Gargi
Banerjee to bring out this interview.
 Gargi
Banerjee, you made your Test Match Debut against
Australia at Feroze Shah Kotla and you were
right there facing the 1st ball of the match! So
what was going on in your mind during that
innings? We are going back to January 21st 1984…
I wasn't nervous to be honest and was mentally
prepared to face the biggest day in my life.
When the bowler was running in all I had in my
mind was to time the ball and strike it with the
sweetest part of my bat. And the runs did flow,
in particular I enjoyed the square cuts and the
cover drives I hit during that day. In the
second innings I hit 63 and got the Best
Batswoman award.
Interestingly there were six debutants from the Indian women. Any reasons for that many number of new faces in the team?
The team was hit by injuries to several players
and the selectors had to b ring in six debutants
including me, Neelima Joglekar and others.
You were playing with the likes of Shanta Rangaswamy, Diana Eduljee, Shubangi Kulkarni..all the three very experienced. So how were the big three with the junior players like you during that debut match?
Well there were no superiority or inferiority
complex in our side; I never felt that I was
playing with those big players. I was very
confident and always wanted to face the best
situation in my life. I don't remember getting
any special advice from the seniors but
definitely they had been very encouraging.
Anyway how did you get into Cricket?
I used to play Cricket with my brother and
slowly started to enjoy the game. One day I
happened to see in the newspaper about a Cricket
camp for women in Calcutta. I attended that
camp, I think about 50 girls turned up then. The
camp was for the selection of the Bengal's Women
team, and surprisingly my name was there in the
squad. I played two or three local matches and I
could not score at all. My father advised me to
learn cricket first and play and do not allow to
give a chance to others to laugh at you. So I
trained for three years. My coach was Mr Kalyan
Biswas and former test cricketer Late Shri
Kartik Bose. Apart from them I had taken tips
from lots of former Indian test players like
Salim Durani, Rajinder Amarnath, Bishen Singh
Bedi and others. My father wanted me to play for
India but very sad that by the time I made it to
the Indian team, I lost my father. But my mother
and brother were very happy to see me playing
for the country. They had encouraged me
throughout my career.
And how did you make it to the Indian team?
I was performing well for Bengal in the domestic
tournament and t hat
got me to play for India against England. In all
the tests against England I performed and infact
was awarded the Best Bat, Best all rounder,
Woman of the Match. Unfortunately for me the
series wasn't recognized official much to my
disappointment.
And Gargi, a one-day international debut at Eden
Gardens, Calcutta and that too in a World Cup.
You were just a tender 15 year old; tell us how
you felt during that time.
I was very new at
that time in the international arena, not very
mature too. But the experience what I had with
the team was fantastic, I really enjoyed the
atmosphere at that time in Eden Gardens although
I used to do lots of practice in Eden Gardens,
it was a wonderful feeling.
Any reasons why you couldn't go beyond 26 ODIs and 14 tests matches in your career?
Well first of all in between 1987 to1990 there
was not a single international match played by
Indian women cricket team and then we went to
Australia and there I was badly injured. So I
missed couple of matches… then the new
selectors thought I wasn't good enough to play
for the country. Its still a shock to me that I
could never play for India from then.
We all are curious to know why India didn't play a single international game during that period. Isn't that staggering?
All I know during the1988 World Cup, the squad
was selected and we were attending the
preparatory camp and everything was done, but
one day the shocking news came that we are not
going to play the world cup match, why? No
funds... how much true it was, I still don't
know.
Any good memories about
your international career?
Yes
one of the test matches, there was an English
bowler Sarah Potter, who was dismissing our
batswomen with sharp inswingers, but I did not
get out to her and was the one who survived
against that bowler. After I got out, I was just
making a diagram why these girls were unable to
play this bowler. And I have told the
captain these are the reasons? Then end of the
first innings, Shanta Rangaswamy said to me
"Yeh Hath mujhe de do". Well another
memorable moment was at Blackpool, England. In
the first innings, I scored 63 and second
innings I scored 76 and those innings I was sure
to get my first hundred but my luck did not give
support then.
Sushmita Chowdhury from Delhi wants to know that "Seeing the current plight of Women's Cricket in India, what would your advise be for a young girl who wants to take up Cricket as her career?"
Sushmita, nowadays the training facilities have
grown up for women in different cities. Some
colleges have their own teams and once the girls
perform well in the leagues and other domestic
tournaments, they would get a chance to play for
India. And with organizations like Railways,
Indian Airlines and others giving the girls job
security, I think its really upto the girls to
work hard and keep performing and grab the
opportunities. But to make a career in women's
cricket, young girls should remember that they
should match world class standards.
Gargi, any message to Cricketfundas.com ?
Yeah…I appreciate Cricketfundas.com's endeavor
in bringing out a special Women N
Cricket section. It's a privilege for me to have
a column with Cricketfundas.com. All the best
for the CF Unit.
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