In an episode of “Around the Globe with Female Cricket,” Xara Jetly, Wellington Blaze bowler, discussed her multicultural background, her father’s Indian roots from Delhi, and her upbringing filled with Indian traditions. Xara shared her admiration for India’s cricket culture and her desire to play cricket there. She also expressed her love for South Indian food, including nostalgic memories of her grandmother’s Idli cake.
Xara is passionate about exploring her Indian heritage, though she admits she’s not deeply familiar with Indian festivals. She values Indian culture’s diversity, drawing parallels to her experience with Māori culture in New Zealand. Xara also spoke about her social media presence, where she showcases the fun side of cricket and balances content creation with her cricket career. She manages criticism with resilience and sees setbacks, like non-selection to the White Ferns, as motivation to work harder. She works with a sports psychologist to manage performance anxiety and has developed coping strategies that have helped improve her mental well-being.
On her Family History:
Xara Jetly spoke about being from a multicultural background; she was born in Wellington, New Zealand, her father was born in Delhi but spent most of his time in Zambia, while her childhood was steeped with Indian traditions, as her grandparents spoke a lot of Hindi. Although she has lost touch with the language over time, she hopes to relearn it with her father’s help. Her mother is English and Irish, while he is the sporty one in the family; he is academically inclined. She has had a very Indian upbringing with all the traditional foods and a visit to a local temple in New Zealand with her grandfather.
Although she felt a strong attachment to India, cricket hadn’t come from her father’s side; this highly amuses her given the fact that India loves the sport. She mentioned how much she loves India and how soon she would like to visit, especially Delhi since her grandparents originally came from there. She also hopes to reconnect with her extended family, most of whom she has lost contact with over the years.
Xara says, “My grandma and granddad are from India, and I believe they are both from Delhi and, yeah, so I grew up with all the tradition, traditional Indian food. I used to go to a local temple in New Zealand, go with my granddad, and pray. It was an awesome childhood.”
The love for the roots is understandable, and so is the love for cricket, as she is eager to get back to her roots, probably combined with playing cricket in India in the near future.
She added, “I grew up with the best culture and I love India so much. It’s a place I want to go to so much, so badly and I’m hoping over the next year or so I will be able to go over there and play some cricket”
Views on India:
Xara wants to understand the cricket culture in India. She says she would love to visit Mumbai, and Bangalore, though she says humorously that she struggles to pronounce this word, and other northern states of India. She feels very excited about playing cricket in a country where it enjoys so much tradition and has such passionate fans. She also says that her father makes it a point, as she is the firstborn to remind her that her journey will not be an easy one. But she is ready to get into this journey, and so hopes to have some enlightening discussions and moments once she finally goes to India.
Xara shared her views on the Indian stadiums saying, “I just wanna go over there and play cricket. Wherever in India it is, I wanna go play cricket. So, I think that I would fall in love with it, in love with it just because of all of the cricket stadiums and all the people that are obsessed with cricket.”
Xara further shared her deep appreciation for South Indian food, mainly Idli and sambar. Her favorite childhood food is Idli; also, she remembers how her grandma made an Idli cake with chutney and sambar on her birthday. She also has a nostalgic connection to Bollywood series, remembering how she watched one with her brother and made fun of the ads. Xara mentions that one of her favorite songs by Katy Perry was “Lifetimes,” though she is otherwise a huge fan of David Bowie. Although she hasn’t explored it much herself, she said that perhaps her dad might have more to say on the subject of Indian music.
Xara shared her birthday memory saying, “So for my birthday, my grandma made me an Idli cake, a cake full of Idli and with birthday candles in it and it was with chutney and sambar. That was amazing.”
On Indian Culture and Festivals:
Xara Jetly has a genuine interest in exploring and understanding her Indian heritage. She reflects on her childhood memories, mentioning a color-throwing festival that her dad told her about but admits she wasn’t very up-to-date on Indian festivals as a kid. She acknowledges that her grandparents were more involved in celebrations with the family. Xara appreciates the richness of Indian culture, noting the diversity of languages, religions, and food, and compares it to her own experience with Māori culture in New Zealand. She expresses a desire to learn more about her Indian ancestry to connect more deeply with her roots, especially as her cricket career has grown.
Xara expressed her love for different cultures saying, “I love culture, and I love being half Indian, half Kiwi. I need to learn more about – my Indian ancestry so that I can really go back to my roots properly. I think that’s really, really important for me as I’ve grown up in cricket, that I really want to do.”
Social Media and Personal Life:
Xara Jetly is a vibrant and extroverted personality who embraces her love for content creation and social media. She especially loves showcasing the other side of professional cricket in a more fun way to uplift and put a smile on people’s faces. Her journey of content creation started off with a viral post and transformed into a passion and career.
Xara said, sharing her social media presence, “I think I’ve always been a very extroverted person. I think it’s not something that I’m gonna hide away from the world. I think professional cricket, it can come across quite serious in the women’s game and I think I like to kind of show the other side of it.”
Xara works interactively with social media: posting regularly, having her own photographer and videographer who assist her in creating beautiful material, and collaborating with brands with the great help of her social media manager, who keeps the relationships going and maintains insight into it all. The commitment to improvement and entertainment is a work in progress while she builds up supportive people around her. Her favorite YouTuber is MrBeast, and she also follows Minecraft YouTubers, reflecting her diverse interests. Xara has plans lined up for the future, including streaming, and is committed to building on the content creation activities.
Xara further expressed her love for social media saying, “I just want to put a smile on people’s face and uplift people. So that’s why I do it. I would post here and there. I love social media!”
On Work-Life Balance:
Over time, Xara Jetly has honed time management skills that keep her in decent equilibrium between cricket and content creation. She uses an AI assistant called Motion to streamline her tasks, allowing her to be productive during her peak hours. Xara finds that early mornings are best for getting content sorted, while video editing is more effective late at night.
She emphasized that prioritization is the key to her being capable of dealing with the weekly schedule effectively. Precisely, she has been insisting that breaks, or giving herself time outs, help her feel fresh every day. Similarly, Xara can balance her professional life with her personal life by not harming her well-being.
Xara mentions, “Prioritisation is key for me, and I guess that’s how I managed to get everything done in a week. But it’s also allowing myself to have moments where I don’t feel like I need to get things done and do work. I need to have moments for myself as well and that kind of allows me to settle down, move on and then start the day fresh, the next day fresh.”
On dealing with criticism:
Xara Jetly has faced a range of critical comments-from performance criticism to personal attacks. Despite these challenges, she developed a strong support network that includes coaches, managers, family, and close friends from whom she values constructive feedback.
Xara said, “I’ve built this amazing support network; the more I realize that criticism is going to come my way, the harder I work and the more success I get from it.”
Xara knows full well that at the height of success, criticism will find its way. She actually sees it as an indicator that she is being effective. She knows that when negative comments do arise, it is a reflection of others’ dissatisfaction and thus hold no bearing, she dismisses them outright. By focusing on her goals and preparations with her support team, Xara maintains her resilience and continues to move forward in her career, prioritizing her well-being and growth over online negativity.
Xara further added, “My journey doesn’t involve their feedback or their criticism. I think they’re severely unqualified, the comment section. So, I will just focus on my preparation with my coaches and that’s kind of how I deal with it.”