Dehradun: After Ekta Bisht and Mansi Joshi, Sweta Verma, a 24-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman from Pithoragarh’s Thal, has now been selected for the Indian women’s cricket team. She will feature in the squad for the upcoming ODI series against South Africa which starts from March 7 in Lucknow.
Coming from a humble background, she lost her father in her teenage. Verma’s mother is an Anganwadi worker.
She was coached by Liyakat Ali Khan in Almora. “We took care of her finances as back then, it was her mother who was the sole breadwinner of her family. We spotted her talent in wicket-keeping as she was quick. After coaching her in Almora, we later shifted her to Kashipur for advance coaching, especially in wicket-keeping,” said Khan.
The Almora-based professional coach told TOI that she had to relocate to Uttar Pradesh in order to pursue a career in cricket since Uttarakhand didn’t have a BCCI-affiliated state cricket association back then. “She has been playing for the UP domestic side for five years now. In 2018, Uttarakhand started participating in the BCCI domestic tournaments but we decided to let her stay in UP since the UPCA had supported her a lot. Also, relocating her at that time would have been a bad decision career-wise,” said Khan.
The wicket-keeper-batsman will be looking forward to getting into the playing XI of the Indian side during the ODI bilateral home series against South Africa.
Coming from a humble background, she lost her father in her teenage. Verma’s mother is an Anganwadi worker.
She was coached by Liyakat Ali Khan in Almora. “We took care of her finances as back then, it was her mother who was the sole breadwinner of her family. We spotted her talent in wicket-keeping as she was quick. After coaching her in Almora, we later shifted her to Kashipur for advance coaching, especially in wicket-keeping,” said Khan.
The Almora-based professional coach told TOI that she had to relocate to Uttar Pradesh in order to pursue a career in cricket since Uttarakhand didn’t have a BCCI-affiliated state cricket association back then. “She has been playing for the UP domestic side for five years now. In 2018, Uttarakhand started participating in the BCCI domestic tournaments but we decided to let her stay in UP since the UPCA had supported her a lot. Also, relocating her at that time would have been a bad decision career-wise,” said Khan.
The wicket-keeper-batsman will be looking forward to getting into the playing XI of the Indian side during the ODI bilateral home series against South Africa.