The HarryDi sisterhood

It’s around 8pm on a cool November evening on a quiet Jayanagar street in Bengaluru. People are winding their way home to settle down for the night and shopkeepers are eyeing their last customers of the day pack their purchases into cloth bags they’d brought with them.

It’s a pleasant surprise to hear the sound of ‘Catch it’ at 17th Main, 35th Cross. It’s the wicketkeeper, a boy, exhorting the fine mid-off, a girl, willing the catch to be taken, as the fine mid-on, another girl, looks on. The batter, a girl, is hoping she won’t have to pay the price for a lofted shot off a short ball by the bowler, another girl.

Four girls and a boy playing tennis-ball cricket under streetlights.

As I walk past a lady who has a yoga mat tucked under her arm and squinting into her cellphone, I remark with quiet joy, “It’s great to see girls play cricket”, she says with bursting pride, “They’ve set a good example.” We both knew who ‘they’ were and with a mutual nod of friendly salute to the HarryDi Sisterhood, we went our separate ways.

Their stirring performance in the recently concluded ICC Women’s World Cup semifinal and final is the stuff of those who dare to dream big. Much has been written about the members of this team, their remarkable journeys to the podium. Much has been written about their never-say-die spirit that saw them pip the mighty Australians and feared South Africans to glory.

In the years to come, much will be written about a whole generation of young girls and women inspired by these Women in Blue. The four girls in the Jayanagar game may not play for India, but they’re playing out a revolution in women’s sport. Every global sporting triumph has sowed the seeds of courage in young persons to go for victory, not just be content with participation.

Back in the ‘80s, an elegant Prakash Padukone’s All England title got many youngsters reaching for badminton racquets, as did the later exploits of Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu. Kapil’s Devils got lakhs of boys, clutching bats, balls and stumps, rushing to the nearest maidan at the crack of dawn.

HarryDi and her team are having a similar multiplier effect on girls who will, at best, win laurels for their clubs and country and, at the very least, experience the joy of sport and the camaraderie it nurtures. It’s now up to sports administrators to facilitate their growth, to fan the fire in the belly into a roaring inferno that will sweep established opponents off their pedestals.

China’s model of catching children very young and moulding them into global champions across sporting disciplines is well documented. Australia’s model of tapping into its population’s obsession with fitness and sports to churn out winners with metronomic regularity is there for all to emulate. The templates are there for us to use. Whether we have the national will to do it is the moot question.

The HarryDi Sisterhood tearfully acknowledged the contribution of those, like JhulanDi and MithaliDi, who went before them and showed the way. Decades down the line, someone will acknowledge the spark that Harmanpreet and her team lit and ignited a million shining lights.

We can only hope.

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