Gunalan still remembers the day vividly. In 2020, just a day after a nation-wide Covid-induced lockdown came into effect, Gunalan was giving throwdowns to his son Kishore when his 12-year-old daughter Kamalini picked up the ball and rolled her arm over. “I’d no idea she had interest in cricket. And nobody has taught her how to bowl. But she just did it in her first attempt, she had a knack,” Gunalan says of the Kamalini, who on Friday was part of Tamil Nadu side that won it’s first women’s U-19 trophy at Lahli, where she was the second highest run-getter with 311 runs in 8 matches.
Aarti Sankaran, the former Tamil Nadu cricketer, who is a National Cricket Academy-certified coach, who mentors 16-year-old Kamalini these days on the insistence of the National Cricket Academy, said: “Kamalini is what you call a natural talent. Everything comes so easily to her and that’s how she has been able to convert into a wicketkeeper within six months. She has the drive and the hard work. We have seen a lot of girls just fizzle out after a point. But she is going to stay here for long,” Aarti says.
There is every reason to believe so. Last year, despite D Hemalatha being part of the India side, it was Kamalini who walked away with all the accolades in the annual Tamil Nadu Cricket Association awards, including the women’s cricketer of the year.
In addition, she was the Under-19 and Under-15 cricketer of the year as well. “Last year was a landmark year for Kamalini,” her mother Saranya says. “She got selected for U-15, then U-19 and also played for the seniors. From being part of the NCA zonal camp, she is now part of the overall camp. The decisions we took seem vindicated because of her,” Saranya adds.
Kamalini’s rise was possible because the family took a decision to invest in her career.
Until four years ago, all the focus of the parents was on their son Kishore’s cricketing career with the skating rink being Kamalini’s favourite destination. But the lockdown and the interest shown by Kamalini would make the family change plans.
Hailing from the temple town of Madurai, when Kamalini was enrolled in a local cricket academy, several people questioned the move.
Those questions would get louder when Saranya would take Kamalini to Chennai just to play cricket.
“In Madurai, we couldn’t find girls taking up cricket. So unless she played with them, we were never going to know where she stood. With their coach finding a team here, we would travel and play club matches in Chennai. And the visits were more regular because Kamalini was scoring and taking a lot of wickets as well,” Saranya says.
Kamalini’s rise was possible because the family took a decision to invest in her career. (Special Arrangement)
In 2021, Kamalini would walk into selection trials, score a 27 and a 95 in practice matches, which resulted in her being picked to the U19 side. “Back then we didn’t have U15, but even at 13 she was ready for U19 level. But once she got selected, we had to move out of Madurai and shift base to Chennai,” Gunalan says.
Leap of faith
For Saranya it was walking into the unknown. “It was a huge leap of faith, because that is what drove all of us. At that time, she didn’t have any team or nor did we know she would achieve so much in such a short span. There were a lot of questions and people also asked why would you take a chance with a girl. But her father had made up his mind and I just had to support him,” Saranya says.
For Gunalan it wasn’t a difficult decision.
He had played decent cricket in Madurai, but due to his family’s less-privileged background, he had to quit college in the first year and enter the logistics business. He started off by operating one lorry, which expanded to 10. And from the moment Kamalini took up cricket, he has also doubled up as coach. “I could have enrolled her in an academy, but I wanted to coach my daughter. When I used to send my son to coaching, I had observed what his coach used to teach him. So I would just note it down and coach her accordingly,” Gunalan says.
Within their compound, a net facility came up and Gunalan would also become the throwdown specialist.
“For two hours every day, I used to bowl to her. It was our daily routine until I suffered a severe heart attack last year,” Gunalan says. Now, he hires three net bowlers – an off-spinner, a left-arm spinner and a throwdown specialist for Rs 2,250 per day to bowl to Kamalini at the Chennai Super Kings Academy, who have opened the doors for her to train in the morning.
“When we moved to Chennai, I wanted to enrol her in the best facility. In most places, they had only matting pitches for girls. But at CSK, they had turf pitches. Louis Mariano and Sriram Krishnamurthy were very accommodative and have allowed us to train and take care of our coaching. It is our duty to give our children the best of everything,” Gunalan says.
Gunalan and Saranya have laid out a platform. Over to Kamalini to build on it.
