One of the biggest philosophical dilemmas surrounding the twentieth-century world has been the debate around chances or sheer luck and hard work. People often rely on luck or are often too harsh and reject all effects of randomness in their lives. The answer, however, is somewhere in between. Alike all the complications posed by ambiguities, the answer here too lies in simplicity.
Female Cricket got a chance to interact with a player who got into cricket by sheer chance but has cemented herself into the sport with the help of her sweat. The journey of Kalpana Reddy started with Kabbadi. She was in the seventh standard when an instructor entered her class and asked if anyone was interested in cricket. Kalpana, having heard about the game, had a desire to try the sport as she had never imagined women playing the game.
With this moment, life changed for Kalpana. Her parents gave her the support and from a girl who liked any sport, Kalpana made her way into the national squad. She candidly revisits her school days when she would be playing Kabbadi and would get the first prize at the race on children’s day. It was in 2009 that she started playing cricket.
Till here, the story was around chances but now we shall look upon the hardships. Kalpana had a handful of members in her family and cricketing life was not going to be easy for. A good willow bat, as she tells, would have taken handsome 5000 rupees out the pocket. For her dad, whose means of income was an auto-rickshaw, this was not feasible.
Nevertheless, her talent got her sponsors when she was selected for the under-16 side. The road was not easing up on India’s wicket-keeping batter as she had to give up her first art as a cricketer. Kalpana reveals that she was a pacer in the initial days and had to give up fast bowling due to her height. The coach told her that her height is not allowing her to grow as a pacer.
Also Read: Female Cricket Interviews Kalpana Reddy
Kalpana took the challenge sportingly and made her passion for catching balls as her attribute. She is now one of the finest professionals in Indian women cricket. Although she got into cricket by chance, she made cricket her own. She gave in the hard work and sweat to establish herself among the best in the business.
It is the spirit of not relying on anything but your efforts and giving your best in all tasks that may emerge as the solution for the modern-day dilemma as we learned from the 7th episode of Cricket With Queens.
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A student who enjoys studying cricket more than anything else, keen to learn the insights of the women’s game.