PC: India Today
Uma Chetry, the 21-year-old wicketkeeper-batter from Assam, replaced injured Vrinda Dinesh in UP Warriorz’s squad in the ongoing Women’s Premier League. Vrinda was ruled out of the tournament after she sustained a shoulder injury in the sixth match of the tournament against Mumbai Indians Women at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, on February 28.
She was picked by the franchise for her reserve price of INR 10 lakh. Uma made her WPL debut against MI on March 7 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. She faced 10 deliveries and scored eight runs in her first game.
From Assam to National Recognition
Uma was born on July 7, 2022, in Kandulimari village in Bokakhat division of Golaghat district, Assam. Her mother, Dipa Chetry, encouraged her to play cricket and bought her a plastic cricket bat and ball when she turned three. She made this move after seeing Uma play cricket with a makeshift bat.
Uma faced financial hardships all through her life. Her father, Lok Bahadur, is a small-time farmer. There were times when the family failed to make ends meet. Uma is the only girl child of Dipa and Lok Bahadur among their five children.
During her childhood, Uma used to practice a while in the morning and then went to school. She studied at Bokakhat Hindi High School. After her school used to get over, she returned the home and would again start playing with boys in her neighborhood.
Her family faced a lot of backlash in the village as Uma was playing cricket with boys. All her rigorous training from such a young age helped her get attention from Ajoy Sarma, the treasurer of Golaghat District Sports Association, around 2011.
Ajoy took Uma in his wings and supported her right from the start. He even gave her a cricket kit, which included a wicketkeeper’s kit. With the help of Ajoy, Uma became a regular in Assam’s team.
Last year, Uma became the first player from Assam to be named in the Indian team. She was picked in the side that toured Bangladesh in July. She was a part of the India A team that won the Asian Cricket Council Women’s Emerging Teams Cup 2023 and was the highest run-scorer for the team. She was also a part of the Indian team that won the Gold Medal in the Asian Games in September last year.
Dominance in Domestic Circuit
She had a decent outing in domestic cricket last year. Uma was the leading run-scorer for Assam in the Senior Women’s One Day Trophy. She made 160 runs in five outings at an average of 32 and a strike rate of 66.94, including a half-century.
In the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy, Uma scored 115 runs in six innings at a strike rate of 89.84. She had hit 14 fours and two sixes in the tournament. Uma was the second-highest run-scorer for India A against England A in the three-match T20 series in December last year. Uma had scored 56 runs in three matches at a massive strike rate of 155.55.
