Due to frequent power outages in Ratai Purwa village in Uttar Pradesh, the family of Archana Devi feared missing out on the final of the U-19 Women’s World Cup in South Africa. .
However, at the last moment, the family comes to the rescue when the local police officer arranges an inverter to ensure that the Devi family and the entire village are informed of the clash at the summit.
Even before the first ball of the final was bowled, Archana not only proved her naysayers wrong, but made the whole country proud of her achievements on the pitch.
Rathai, about 100 km from the provincial capital, gathered at a thatched house in Purwa, ironically that some people stopped Archana from watching the game before the celebrations began.
“She was worried during the game yesterday that she wouldn’t be able to see her sister because of the power outage,” she said. But when the police found out, he sent an inverter and a battery to our house, and our whole village watched the game on the TV in front of our house.
The spinner had to overcome hurdles every step of the way as he scored a sensational one-handed catch across two wickets in the final. Her mother was accused of letting Archana play the game after her father died of cancer in 2008, and her older brother died of a snake bite in 2017.
Arcana has lived through all these setbacks in her journey to become a preeminent performer in the Champion’s outfit. The irreplaceable guidance of her coach Kapil Pandey and Indian cricketer Kuldeep Yadav has also gone a long way in fueling her rise. In addition to his extensive knowledge of the art of spin, Kuldeep helped with cricket equipment when they trained together at Pandey’s Academy in Kanpur.
“When Archana came to me in 2017, I made her bowl and immediately knew her talent. She had no supplies or roof to live in Kanpur, her village It was about 30km away from there and I couldn’t come every day,” Pandey told PTI.
Recalling the hard work that went into creating Archana, Pandey said she rented a room in her colony at JK Kanpur with the help of her teacher, her Poonam Gupta.
“When Kuldeep was at Kanpur, he trained with his children, including Arcana, and taught all the players the intricacies of cricket. Archana was bowling at a moderate pace, but later I asked her to bowl off-spin. She’s been a good off-spinner,” the coach said.
After India’s victory over England in the final, the village of Archana at Bangarmau tehsil was filled with celebrations. Mother Savitri Devi and Rohit led the celebration and distributed laddus to each visitor.
Her mother is not fully aware of her daughter’s contribution to the winning team, but she was delighted to see Arcana on the TV screen. “I don’t know much about cricket. I just saw my daughter play on the field on TV and I’m happy,” Arcana’s mother said.
Archana’s father Shivram died when Archana was just four years old. When she was five years old, she entered primary school and later entered her 6th grade at Kasturba Her Gandhi Boarding School in Ganjim Radabad.
It was Poonam Gupta, an Arcana teacher, who discovered her hidden talent. After finishing class 8, Poonam took him to Pandi’s academy.
Rohit, who is four years his senior, said Archana sent him a message on his mobile phone before the final.
“Her brother, please pray to God that we can win today,” he asked her not to panic.