Sajana S is slowly becoming a popular name in Kerala cricket at the moment. The youngster had led the state’s Under-23 women’s cricket team to the Twenty-20 Super League title in Mumbai.
Incidentally, that title became the first one for the state including men or women cricket.
Interestingly, Kerala had so far never won any tournament that was conducted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). This has grabbed a lot of attention after Sajana led her side to the glory.
“Life’s challenges made me tough and sharpened my fighting skills,” Sajana said.
Sanjana led a team from the front and took an impressive 14 wickets in the tournament. Adding more to the surprise, she took up cricket only six years ago.
“I am from the Kurichia community, the Adivasi tribe of the warriors,” Sanjana added.
Sanjana was sent to Government Model Residential School in Pookkode village when she was just nine-years-old. She has excelled in various sports before trying her luck in cricket.
“I cried for hours when I realised that I would live alone at the school for Scheduled Tribe students,” she said.
“But I made up my mind quickly and decided to stay strong. It made me self-reliant and strong,” Sanjana remarked.
Counting her strengths, Sajana said she is lucky to have been blessed with a height. The cricketer stands tall at 5 foot 7. The aspiring cricketer added she had a knit a dream of becoming a high-jumper.
“Height is my biggest advantage then and now. I would have become a champion high-jumper had our school had a crash mat for training,” she added.
Sajana had also earned praise from Indian legendary batsman Gautam Gambhir.
Back in 2016, when the Delhi player came to play a Ranji game, she fielded for him in a practice session.
Recalling the incident, “Gambhir congratulated me and gifted me his bat after the practice session,” she said.
She did manage to make good use of that bat. “I scored an 84-ball 100 with that bat in an under-23 match against Tamil Nadu,” she said proudly.
The run to the title in Mumbai has been glorifying. They managed wins over Hyderabad, Tamil Nadu, Goa and Karnataka to qualify for Superleague. They then managed to win over the likes of Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, and Mumbai.
The final against Maharastra was a close affair but Sajana & Co. managed to pull it off for Kerala.
“I was over the moon when we got past Maharashtra in a nerve-wracking match. It was the result of the hard work I put in all these years,” Sanjana concluded.
She is now hoping to win a place in the Indian women national team. The promising cricketer stands a very good chance if she continues her meteoric rise.
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