Hailing from the Wayanad district, she became the first person from Kerala to represent the India Women’s cricket team.
Minnu Mani being felicitated by the Wayanad Cricket Association. (Supplied)
When the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced its women’s team to tour Bangladesh for a six-match series, a surprising name featured on the list.
Minnu Mani, a resident of the Edapaddi colony at Choyimoola village in Wayanad district, became the first person from Kerala to represent the India Women’s cricket team.
She has been selected in the T20 squad.
As with several women cricketers in the country, the journey hasn’t been easy for Minnu. She belongs to the Kurichiya tribe, famous for its bow and arrow skills.
“Honestly, I didn’t expect this call-up. I am very happy to be able to represent the Indian team at the national level,” Minnu Mani told South First.
Following her call-up to the Indian team, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who was the Wayanad MP, congratulated her for the achievement.
Minnu Mani.
“She was part of the high-performance camp at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. And her performance there earned her a spot in the national team,” Jestin Fernandez, a BCCI level one coach working under the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA), told South First.
“She is currently in a training camp organised by KCA at Krishnagiri Stadium in Wayanad. We felicitated her soon after the news of her selection broke,” he added.
“Minnu is a talented player and her performance in the domestic circuit last year was also impressive,” Fernandez said.
“The camp in Bengaluru was with the senior players of the Indian team, including captain Harmanpreet Kaur. It was basically to train and test the fitness and performance of the players. I could do well in the camp and it was a good experience,” said Minnu Mani.
Recently, she represented the Delhi Capitals in the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL), after she was picked up for ₹30 lakh in the auction.
She played three matches for the Delhi Capitals in the tournament which concluded on 26 March, with the team ending the WPL as runners-up.
When asked what could have earned her the spot in the national team, she said: “I believe it is because of my performance in the domestic games last year. I didn’t get many chances to perform in the WPL as I played only three games for Delhi Capitals.”
Belonging to the Kurichiya tribe, she started playing cricket seriously at 13, when she was a Class 8 student at the Government High School in Edapaddi.
Minnu Mani with her father and grand mother.
“Before that, I used to play with the boys near my house. Many girls were shy to play cricket, but I was not. Our village has a lot of paddy fields so we used to play there,” reminisced Minnu, whose father CK Mani is a daily wager and her mother Vasantha is a homemaker.
Looking at her talent, her physical education teacher and Wayanad district coach at the school, Elsamma Baby, took her to participate in the selection trials of the Wayanad District Under-13 team.
“After my daughter (Anu Mol Baby) suggested making a women’s cricket team for Wayanad, I selected those interested in playing crickets among my athletics students. My old student Shanavaz was with me teaching cricket to the children,” Government Vocational Higher Secondary School Mananthavady teacher Elsamma KM told South First when Minnu Mani was selected for the WPL.
“After Elsamma called me when I first saw Minnu swinging her bat with her left hand, I felt the joy that any coach experiences on seeing a talent that can be improved,” Shanavas, a cricket coach in Wayanad, told South First.
“After deciding to go to KCA academy, I directly called Machan sir and told him about Minnu to be taken to the state team selection. We thought we wouldn’t get permission. After half an hour, he called me back informing us that we had permission to go for the state team selection,” he said.
“Earlier, my parents were not supportive. They discouraged me and told me that cricket is a man’s game and that girls can’t do much. But after I got selected for the trials, their mindset changed and they began supporting me,” Minnu recalled fondly.
After being selected to the Under-13 district team, Minnu made her way into the junior girls’ state camp at the KCA Academy in Thodupuzha in the Idukki district.
“The coaches that came from Wayanad district and secretary Nazir Machan sir helped me a lot. It’s because of them that I got good practice and I availed KCA Academy’s facilities,” said Minnu.
She graduated from the Kerala Under-16 team when she was 15 and made it to the Under-19 team. Within a year, she was in the senior state team.
Over the years, she has been an integral part of the Kerala women’s team and has played for India ‘A’ and India Blue in the Challenger Trophy.
“Her throws, which were very accurate, impressed me when I saw her playing for the Kerala U-16 team. After a disappointing show in the Challengers trophy, she changed her approach and her strike rate also went up,” BCCI B-level coach Anu Ashok told South First earlier.
Regarding her as the fittest player in their team then, Anu, who knows Minnu for a decade now, added, “She never used to miss a single practice session for any reason, including injury.”
The Bangladesh tour series gets underway with the shorter format and the final T20I will be played on 13 July. The ODIs start from 16 July and the series concludes on 22 July.
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