Ice-cream lover Mannat’s journey from playing gully cricket in Patiala to U-19 World Cup glory

As a youngster, Mannat Kashyap would often play cricket with boys at her Vikas Colony residence in Patiala. With her father Sanjiv Kashyap running an ice-cream business in Patiala, Mannat would often tell her father to bring her ice-cream on his way back home after her busy time playing cricket in the street. The 19-year-old youngster claimed one wicket for the Shafali Verma led Indian women’s U-19 team against England women’s U-19 team in the ICC U-19 Women’s 20 World Cup final in South Africa on Sunday. Mannat claimed a total of nine wickets in the tournament for the Indian U-19 team.
“When Mannat was young, she would often spend her time playing cricket with boys in the street. She would always tell me to bring ice-cream for her post her gully cricket matches. Some years later, my niece Nupur Kashyap saw her bowling and told us to get her enrolled in a cricket academy. At that time, there were no academies imparting training to girls. We went to Cricket Hub Academy on Sirhind road and they agreed to coach Mannat. To watch Mannat playing with boys in the street to win the U-19 World Cup for India is a special feeling for all of us,” shared Sanjiv Kashyap, father of Mannat Kashyap while speaking with The Indian Express.
Parents of Mannat Kashyap with theri relatives after India’s victory in the U-19 T20 World Cup on Sunday. (Express Photos Harmeet Sodhi.)
With her cousin Nupur Kashyap having played for Punjab women’s cricket team, Mannat trained at the Cricket Hub Academy before training under coaches Sunil Saggi and Juhi Jain at Patiala. The left-arm orthodox spinner had performed well in the domestic U-19 circuit before she was picked for the Indian U-19 Women’s team for the U-19 World Cup in South Africa. “She had come to train under me and Sunil Saggi sir in 2018. She had started as a pacer earlier but later shifted to being a spinner. Being a left-arm orthodox spinner is always an advantage for the player but the coaches have to adjust their coaching style. So we worked on her smooth action and run-up apart from line and length. Slowly, she learnt how to spin the ball from right to left of the pitch,” remembers coach Juhi Jain.
Kashyap claimed one wicket in the final and a total of nine wickets for the Indian U-19 team during the title winning campaign.
In the U-19 World Cup in South Africa, Kashyap claimed a total of nine wickets including a four-wicket haul against Scotland earlier in the tournament. On Sunday, Alexa Stonehouse and Sophia Smale looked to extend England’s total with a fighting 17-run partnership for the eight wicket before Kashyap removed Stonehouse in the 17th over to make it 68 for 9 for England. Sonam Yadav removed Smale in the next over to restrict England to a total of 68 runs in 17.1 overs. “During practice, we would make her bowl 200-300 balls per session and it helped her improve her stamina as well as understanding of the amount of spin to plan a dismissal,” said Jain.