Meet Jintimani Kalita: WPL’s only player from Northeast India

In India, it's always assumed that most little girls are naturally fond of dresses and jewellery. However, Assam’s Jintimani Kalita wasn’t most girls. The only player representing Northeast India in the ongoing inaugural Women’s Premier League, Jintimani is playing for Harmanpreet Kaur-led side Mumbai Indians, who are currently the only unbeaten side, with three wins from three.

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Interestingly, Jintimani was never the one from the Kalita household to take up a bat and ball. In fact, it was her brother Prabal Kalita. But, mother Sewali Kalita testifies that her daughter was always unlike the others her age.

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“When she was a child, I took her to markets, fairs; I wanted to dress her up, buy jewellery, dolls for her. But she never needed such things, she didn’t even have one percent interest in them. Her only interest was in plastic bats and balls in the shop - that is all my daughter has ever needed,” she said.

Being one of the very last few players to be auctioned off, the Kalita household was eagerly and nervously waiting, hoping that Jintimani gets picked, which she did. Mumbai Indians scooped her up for 10 lakh, her base price, which is more than enough to solve some of the family’s financial problems.

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Jinitmani’s father works as a fourth-grade government employee and the household has a lot of loans to repay. They hope that this significant pay cheque will help them ease their debts a bit.

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As rare as they come

Assam, especially the Northeast, is a scarce supplier of cricketers to the national teams. However, over the years, Jintimani’s district Mangaldai has been seeing an increased interest in the sport.

It wasn’t too long back that former Assam’s women’s team captain Nirupama Boro was the only local from this district in the state team. Now, about half of Assam’s first team is from here.

Female players are so rare in the state that at one point, Jintimani had to rub shoulders with the boys in training. But that never fazed the determined teenager. “She was never afraid, never hesitated,” said Mangaldai Sports Association treasurer Shambhu Nath Dev on Jintimani playing with boys.

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From persisting to realising her dream

It wasn’t always easy for Jintimani’s family to come to terms with her playing the sport. For the most part, it was the financials of the game which always sowed seeds of doubt into her parents’ mind.

At one point, fuming at her coming home late from practice, Jintimani’s parents threw her bat away. But, this didn’t faze the teenager.

“In frustration, we told Jinti to choose some less expensive sport. But she was determined. She never asked us for anything other than cricket stuff,” her mother said.

As mentioned earlier, it was her brother Prabal who was the first to enroll in cricket. One day, his coach suggested that Jintimani come for practice, something that was beyond her comprehension. This prompted a set of doubtful parents and an insistent grandmother to allow her to take the leap of faith, which has surely paid off now.

Under the able guidance of skipper Kaur and mentor Jhulan Goswami, the 19-year-old all-rounder will surely be one to watch out for the future. 

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