Mannat Kashyap, an emerging women’s cricket player, was born on December 15, 2003. He hails from Patiala, Punjab. She studies humanities, as of 2023, in class 12 at Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Patiala. Her school immensely supported her to continue her journey in cricket.
Background
Mannat Kashyap comes from a simple family. Her father’s name is Sanjiv Kashyap, who has a business ice cream, while her mother, Mona Kashyap is a housewife. She was her parent’s fourth child. Coming from a middle-class family, her mother was worried about her playing cricket, due to the bad effect on her studies. However, her father always supported her through thick and thin. He used to bring ice creams during her gully cricket matches. Mannat likes to spend her free hours dancing and listening to music.
Career
Mannat’s cricketing career started at a young age. She used to play with boys in the gully, which sparkled an inspiration in cricket. One day, one of Mannat’s cousins, Nupur Kashyap recognized her bowling talent and suggested her parents get her enrolled in a cricket academy.
The scarcity of academies, and training for girls, forced her parents to take her to Cricket Hub Academy on Sirhind road. She started her training and her cousin, Nupur who was a part of the Punjab Women’s cricket team also trained her in learning various ways to improve her bowling. The academy was full of boys, which made Mannat a little nervous initially. But the support of all the boys made the journey easy for her.
In 2018, Mannat joined Sunil Saggi and Juhi Jain to train for cricket. She started as a pacemaker but her injury changed the direction and made her step into the spin bowling.
Achievements
In December 2022, Mannat was selected for the Junior World Cup as a part of the India U-19 cricket team. She continued her bowling practice and in the 2023 ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup final, she took one wicket in a match. They played against England women’s U-19 team. By the end of the tournament, Mannat has titled nine wickets for the Indian U-19 team.
The team won the World Cup and Punjab Cricket Association decided to honour Mannat Kashyap during the general body meeting. They declared, “Mannat Kashyap has done the state and country proud. Punjab Cricket Association will honor Mannat during the general body meeting in the presence of all members of the apex council and the executive committee.”
On January 30, 2023, Punjab Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains congratulated Mannat’s parents for her various achievements in the cricketing world. He also declared that the Punjab government would take care of all the expenses spent on Mannat for her coaching in the future.
Her hard work rewarded her with a fruitful outcome. At the end of 2023, she was onboarded by Gujarat Giants for a fee of Rs. 10 lakh to play in the 2024 Women’s Premier League auction.
