India Women Under 19 Cricket team created history on Sunday as they defeated England in the Under-19 T20 World Cup 2023 final and became the world champions. This is the first time in history that India has won a women’s ICC event. While all the young girls are no less than inspiration, but today, in this article, we bring you the story of Archana Devi, who had a major hand in India’s win over England in the final.
Archana Devi picked two wickets for England’s Niamh Holland and Grace Scrivens in the final match to help the Indian side defeat England. Her story of how she overcame great struggles to reach the top is very inspiring. More than her, it was her mother who battled the world to help her daughter wear the national team colors.
Yes, Archana Devi’s mother Savitri revealed how when she let Archana pursue her career in cricket, she was blamed by relatives to let her take the wrong path. Savitri also revealed that she was taunted by locals for her decision to send her daughter to a boarding school and how rumors spread about her selling her daughter. She revealed:
“Ladki ko bech diya, ladki ko galat dhande mey daal diya hai, ye saari baatein mere muh pe bolte they (I have sold my daughter, I have put her in a wrong line. People used to tell me these things to my face),” Savitri said in an interaction with Indian Express.
“Now my house is packed with guests and I don’t have enough blankets for them. The neighbours, who never drank a glass of water from my house, are now helping me,” she added.
Archana Devi’s brother Rohit also revealed that his mother was deemed a daayan (witch) by the villagers. Rohit had lost his job in the lockdown induced by the Coronavirus pandemic which left the family fully dependent on Savitri for making ends meet. Their life has been nothing short of a tragedy as Savitri’s husband passed away in 2008 while her younger son died because of a snake bite in 2018, because of which her neighbors started calling her a ‘daayan’.
“Meri maa ko daayan bulate they gaon waale, kehte they pehle apni husband ko kha gayi, fir apne bete ko, inko dekh le toh raasta badal lete they, humari ghar ko daayan ka ghar kahaa jaata tha (They used to call my mother a witch, they would say she first killed her husband, then her son. If anyone sees her on the road, they will change their route. Our home was called witches’ house),” Savitri’s elder son Rohit said.
He added: “We face floods every year. Half the time, our farm is flooded with waters of the river Ganga. We depended on the milk of our cow and buffalo (one each). We survived all these years because of our mother. She even forced me to complete my graduation and now wants me to prepare for government jobs.
“Archana used to play cricket with Budhiman, who was just a year older than her. She hit a shot, and the ball went into an under constructed room, which we never built after her father died. Every time he would use the bat to get the ball out of the debris, this time he used his hands and was bitten by a Cobra. He died in my arms on our way to the hospital. His last words were ‘Archana ko cricket khilao’ (Let Archana play cricket). After Budhiman’s death, when she went back to her school, she started taking cricket seriously and my mother never stopped her,” Rohit explained.
