Jhulan Goswami delivers her fascinating story at CCI

Jhulan Goswami exrightarm medium fast bowler and batter stalwart of the Indian womenrsquos cricket team drew a full house at the CK Nayudu Banquet Hall Cricket Club of India on Tuesday evening Goswami spoke at the Dilip Sardesai Memorial Lecture at the Churchgate clubShishir Hattangadi the former Mumbai captain anchored what was a peppy conversation a mix of the personal and professional with Goswami freewheeling style rather than a lsquolecturersquo Hattangadi called Goswamirsquos journey ldquofrom street lights to floodlightsrdquo capturing the spirit of the interactionThe audience was informed that a biopic is being made on Goswamirsquos life called Chakda rsquoXpress starring Anushka Sharma Goswami is nicknamed Chakda Express because of her speed and the fact that she hails from Chakdaha Nadia district in West Bengal A big Maradona fanGoswami 40 talked about beginnings ldquoI was a big fan of footballer Diego Maradona I used to play cricket the whole day even missing school to the despair of my family I used to have notes on how to play cricket in the middle of my booksrdquoThe bowler spoke about early days and turning up to play ldquodressed in a skirt or salwar suit The coach used to think who is this lanky village girl He started looking at my higharm bowling action and saw some potentialrdquo Goswami is 5 ft 11 inches tallGoswamirsquos life oscillated between passion to play and academic pressure She explained ldquoI was irregular at practice The defining moment came when the coach paid a surprise visit to my home and told my family give me two years If she does not represent Bengal in the U19 level then she need not give so much time to cricketrdquo That was when Goswami became regular always on time for practice and last to leave She played for Bengal and finally for India within five yearsAlso ReadJhulan Goswami to be conferred Legendary Cricketer award by Cricket Association of BengalMomrsquos inspirational wordsGoswami who retired as player this year and is now a mentor said when she won ICC Womenrsquos Player of the Year in 2007 her mother reminded her ldquothis is for yourself now do something for womenrsquos cricketrdquoThrough the conversation Goswamirsquos generosity of spirit came shining through One also got a glimpse of her determination When Hattangadi asked her about ldquobig city bulliesrdquo in the dressing room she said ldquoThat never bothered me I knew what I was there for and my role in the teamrdquo In response to a question on captaincy she said ldquoI did not enjoy captaincy too much I am a very straightforward person I was there to represent my country not myselfrdquoAs mentor in the dressing room she said ldquoI always said to youngstersmdashgo and enjoy playing Winning and losing is our responsibility I told them if anybody says anything point the finger towards usrdquo That earned her much applause and the sun shone brighter than ever near the end of an event spiked with humour and life lessons in equal measure ldquoThe next year should be a very exciting year for womenrsquos cricket We have the womenrsquos IPL and this will certainly make our domestic circuit extremely robust One may not get every single thing in life We missed the World Cup in 2017 but if the girls go ahead and win it one day I will be the happiestrdquo finished a young woman who gave us a story that spoke eloquently about the power of perseverance passion and stirring pride in playing for the country