"I had long hair so I used to hide it in my cap" - Devika Vaidya on her initial struggles to become a cricketer
India all-rounder Devika Vaidya has managed to carve out an international career for herself after giving some impressive performances in domestic cricket over the past few years. Women's cricket in India received a massive push after the 2017 World Cup where the Women in Blue reached the final.
But it wasn't the same before, as Vaidya opened up on the difficulties she faced when deciding to pursue cricket professionally. During her early days, she found it difficult to find a proper coach as there wasn't a lot of awareness regarding girls wanting to play cricket.
In an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda, here's what Devika Vaidya had to say about her struggles in trying to find direction for her passion of playing cricket:
"The actual difficulty started when we began to search for proper cricket coaching. No one around could believe that girls seriously want to play cricket. Initially, I had long hair so I used to hide it in my cap while going to the ground for practicing so that people from far feel that only boys are playing."
Vaidya opened up on why she wanted to be a cricketer and claimed that she was inspired by the performances of the Indian men's team at the 2003 World Cup, where they went all the way to the final.
On this, she added:
"Everyone in our family loved watching cricket and although I was very small during the 2003 World Cup, I followed the entire tournament and told my parents that I want to become a cricketer. My parents initially thought that it would be good to be playing another sport growing up as I already used to go for Taekwondo coaching."
Devika Vaidya on difficulty in getting accessories for playing cricket
Devika Vaidya spent her childhood in Pune and spoke about how difficult it was for her to even arrange a pair of gloves or pads as she is a left-hander. She opened up on how they had to travel to Mumbai just to bring the equipment needed for her to train and play cricket professionally.
On this, she stated:
"I am a left-hander, so it was even more difficult for me to get a pair of gloves in Pune. We had to go all the way to Mumbai just to buy a pair of gloves and pads. But it is heartening to see the awareness that women's cricket has gotten in the past 10-12 years and it is really good for the upcoming cricketers."
Devika Vaidya credited her family members for backing her dream of becoming a cricketer. She felt they had a massive role to play in motivating her to fulfill her dream and added:
"My parents and grandparents never took my dream of playing cricket for granted. Just like other coaches, even they could have thought that how long will a girl play cricket. They could have easily sent me to play gully cricket, but they ensured that I got the best coaching possible at that time and backed me to follow my passion. Sometimes I used to wonder whether I was doing the right thing, but their confidence in me gave me even more self-confidence."
Devika Vaidya has played nine ODIs and 13 T20Is for India so far and at just 25, she has many more years of international cricket ahead of her.