Ekta Bisht, 34, played his most recent match for India in November 2019. (File Photo / AP)

Ekta Bisht, the first Indian to a hat-trick in T20I, seven years before Deepak Chahar replicated his feat with the men’s team, said the best thing that has happened to women’s cricket in recent years is the changed perception of the sport in Small towns of India.

Speaking at an Indian Express session on Facebook Live on Saturday, she said: “These days, there are many women who practice cricket from small towns: Moga, Almora, Chandigarh, Haryana. Parents send their daughters to play cricket in these places now. What was previously considered bad is now considered good. This support, which was not there before, is the best. This support will only increase, more and more parents will send their daughters to play. ”

Bisht, now 34, said that she herself had to overcome many difficulties to reach the national team and then the pinnacle of sport: in 2017, she became the first Indian to be named to both the official ICC T20I team and ODI teams of the year.

“It was a great fight: coming from a small town, then making a place for myself in Uttar Pradesh, then moving on and meeting so many new people. I didn’t even know how to play on grassy fields, “he said.

Calling her coach, Liyakat Ali, her inspiration, she said that it was he who made her realize that she couldn’t let her past stop her, but instead had to build on what she had. “He also played cricket, but he didn’t get as good a platform as I did,” he said of him.

Bisht added that her own family always supported her. “After my father retired from the army, he opened a tea stall. Our financial situation was not very good. There used to be samosas too. We also used to go there sometimes, ”he said.

“Mental toughness is the problem for our current team”

In 2011, shortly after Bisht made his ODI debut against Australia, his father would have closed the job. He would continue to build a reputation as a stingy bowler for years to come, picking up some memorable bowling figures, especially against Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Speaking about her hat-trick against Sri Lanka in 2012, she said: “I was a little nervous but older people like Jhulan Goswami supported me, gave me confidence. After taking two wickets on two balls, we said we will take the hattrick. Jhulan herself was standing in the middle of a deep oblique, the capture was direct towards her.

“I didn’t think much about the hattrick then. I was thinking about keeping the races down as it was the last time. Much later I learned that I had been the first Indian to take a T20I hat-trick, that felt good,” he added.

One of the Indian team’s failures to overcome the final obstacle in a major tournament, Bisht said: “Our problem seems to be mental strength. We played well, we did everything well, but we couldn’t contain our nerves in the final of the big tournaments. We lose our game in pressure situations. We need to work on this as a team. ”

Saying that the next generation of players shows signs of breaking this curse, she said: “There is healthy competition between team spinners, but the biggest competition they all have is against themselves, so they can maintain their performance level. each successive match. The younger spinners who come in also show good signs, will carry the team forward and win all the great trophies. ”