The mornings and evenings that shaped Uma Chetry's journey

Some mornings have brought luck to Uma Chetry.

One morning in Kandulimari village, while on her daily two-hour-long walk to school with her brother, they were merrily humming and singing bhajans. On a path where there were no homes, a stranger overheard them. Impressed by their skills, he invited them to sing at their home that evening for a Shivratri celebration. Excitedly, they went and in return for their work, they got new school uniforms, some books and a packet of sweets. As their first earning, they brought it home to their mother who accepted it with a smile.

Uma recognises that smile of her mother, where she is so overwhelmed that she doesn't utter a word. It has been making appearances of late as her cricket journey has brought greater rewards.

The most memorable of the mornings was that of July 7, 2024, when Dayalan Hemalatha came up with a congratulatory message for Uma, whose long dream of playing for India had come true. The message from India's head coach, Amol Muzumdar, had already reached the 22-year-old wicketkeeper from Assam the night before but she hadn't bothered to check the playing XI. Moreover, as a backup 'keeper in the squad, she wasn't expecting it.

Chetry had been around the Indian team for a while. She had already been a part of the gold medal-winning Asian Games team and also kept wickets in the previous match after Richa Ghosh had suffered a concussion. But officially, she was yet to become the first woman cricketer from North-East India to play international cricket.

After that goosebump-inducing message from Hemalatha, everything was a blur for Chetry. She remembers only three things. It was the birthday of MS Dhoni, her favourite cricketer. She was playing in Chennai. And that she had become numb, unable to smile or cry.

For all of cricket's popularity across India, for several decades Football has been the preferred street sport in Assam. But Uma's brothers were not the greatest lovers of football. For Uma, just like with the music gig, she followed the footsteps of her brother, who preferred playing tennis-ball cricket.

She would never have become an India cricketer if she had not been dissuaded from the ruminations she would have during her long walks from school to home. In 2011, as a nine-year-old, her friends had proposed the idea of moving to a hostel far away from their village. She was convinced it would be fun to live with them. When she proposed the idea to her father, he had an obvious response. "Would you be able to live without us?"

What he didn't expect was that, for her, the answer was obvious. All day long with friends? Of course, yes!

To his luck, the next day, the news that a district-level trial was being held for girls in a nearby village reached her. Since she played cricket with the boys anyway, her friends convinced her to give it a try. In fact, she was shortlisted for the district-level team right away. In the pre-tournament camp, like most players opted to become batters or bowlers, she too chose the latter of the two options. But after rolling her arm over a few times, her coach convinced her to try her hand at wicketkeeping, a role for which no other player had applied. The selection at the district level as a 'keeper was enough to convince her that life playing cricket sounded more fun than life in a faraway hostel with friends.

It was, however, four years before she found out about the existence of a national women's team.

Nonetheless, the new role fast-tracked her progress through the lower levels of cricket. The journey would have ended in her teens when she was overlooked in the state team following a string of poor performances. She was aware she wouldn't find a place in the side, but due to insistence from her friends, she still went and checked the list. She realised that not only was she absent from the team, but wasn't one of the standbys either, with four other wicketkeepers chosen ahead of her.

On another two-hour walk back home, in a state of anger and disappointment, she believed cricket wasn't meant for her. "I felt terrible that day," she confessed. "I'm not sure why. I saw it coming, yet I was disheartened. I started crying. I thought I wasn't cut out for cricket."

She went and poured out those thoughts to her mother. Many mornings have shaped Uma's thoughts and ideas, but interestingly it was an evening conversation that shaped her life. Her mother's suggestion was simple: "Ups and downs are a part of life. It's important that you learn from this, and learn what you can do to get better. Just because you couldn't perform and were dropped because of that, you can't stop playing altogether. Identify where you were lacking, work on it and improve."

Those were wise words for Uma. But then she also wondered, what does she know of cricket who knows nothing of cricket?

"My mother is next level," she said, emphasising the slang. "She doesn't even know what cricket is like, yet she somehow understood my problem."

That evening Uma was made privy to her mother's desires for the first time. She had wanted to study but couldn't due to her marriage at a young age, followed by the responsibilities of raising a family.

"Had she studied, she would've been able to live her dreams too," Uma said. "All her life she has strived really hard. She would go to work in other people's homes, then come back home, cook for us and take care of us. It is so difficult and only mom could do that. We were from a lower middle-class family, with my father who worked as a driver, earning to feed five children and a wife in the house.

"Since then I've been hellbent on doing something for her, fulfilling all her wishes and dreams. I want to be in a position in life where I'm able to give her whatever she desires."

The conversation which was expected to be about her cricket had turned into a life-shaping realisation for Uma. It lasted much longer than she had anticipated, but it was an evening well spent.

She spent the next week identifying what the issues were with her game. The answer was simple. She couldn't resist her urge to play big shots and secondly, she was repeatedly getting out playing the sweep, her favourite shot. Once those issues were understood, she went back to training and improving her game. In less than half a decade, she was wearing the Indian blue jersey.

The progression of her career graph has allowed both her parents to retire from work. Her mother though still takes care of the small farmland they own. But through her journey, she also realises that there are more like her who can change their lives through cricket. Uma regrets not being able to make the most of her opportunities with the Indian team, and cement a position for which already there is intense competition. But she is aware that she can push harder so that those who are following her, have it easier.

"There were a lot of things that I hadn't thought about till the time I played for India. When Jinti (Jintimani Kalita) was selected to play for India A against West Indies, I told her, 'Play in a way that more girls would want to follow your footsteps. You keep moving forward, I will join you, and together, we will bring more girls with us.'

"When she got selected in WPL, I saw her and was confident that more girls from Assam would come through. Looking at all this..." Uma's voice choked for a while before continuing, "I mean, it's not like we've done a lot. There's a lot more to achieve. But at least now I can give something to my mother - whatever she asks. When I got her a saree and a phone. She went a bit quiet. But to look at her smile, even when she says nothing, is priceless."

Interestingly, much like her India debut, even in the Women's Premier League, it was an injury to a fellow player - Vrinda Dinesh - in 2024 which allowed UP Warriorz to draft in Uma as a replacement player. And now, it is an injury-related rest to their captain Alyssa Healy which gives her a chance to keep wickets for an entire season of the league. It is her opportunity to seize and make a comeback to the Indian team.

Some mornings have brought luck for Uma and some evenings have changed her life. In WPL 2025, with UP Warriorz, there could be many more such evenings.