Archana Devi is an Indian cricketer who plays for the India Under-19 girls team. She is part of the Indian squad that will win the ICC Women’s Under-19 Cricket World Cup in 2023. She had previously represented the Uttar Pradesh women’s team.
Wiki/Biography
Archana Shivram Devi was born on Tuesday 7th September 2004 in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh (age 18 until 2022). Archana came from humble beginnings, growing up in a straw house in the village of Ratai Purwa in the Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh. She had a difficult childhood. Akana’s father died of cancer when she was four, leaving her mother, Savitri Devi, to pay off loans and support three children. She attends Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya boarding school for girls in Ganj Muradabad. Akana’s school teacher, Poonam Gupta, spotted her athleticism and decided to enroll her in the Kanpur Wanderers cricket club under coach Kapil Pandey. Under training, Kapil Pandey is known for training Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav.
Archana Devi with her coach Kapil Pandey
Kanpur is 30 kilometers away from Archana’s hometown. So Kapil with the help of Phunam et al rented a room for Akana at JK Colony in Kanpur. Kuldeep Yadav also supported Archana by buying her cricket equipment. Whenever Kudeep visited Kanpur, he practiced with Akana and other trainees, teaching them the nuances of cricket. In an interview, Poonham spoke of Akana’s passion for cricket, saying:
I saw her passion and I had a gut feeling that this girl is a genius and if given a good platform, she can play for the country. I got her registered with Kanpur Cricket Association and tried to help her, rest, it’s all her hard work. “
Akana was used to pitching at medium speeds at first, but then Pandey let her play off-spin and she became an excellent off-spin player.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′4″
Hair color: black
Eye Color: Black
Shafali Verma, Hrishita Basu and Archana Devi celebrate a wicket during India’s match against England in the Women’s Under-19 T20 World Cup final in Potchefstroom, South Africa, 29 January 2023
family
Archana’s father, Shivram, died of cancer in 2008. Since then, Savitri Devi has raised her three children solely by doing field labor. Later, Savitri’s natal family gave her a cow. She has since supplemented her income by selling dairy products made from milk. Akana’s brother, Budhiman Singh, died of a snakebite in 2017. Her brother, Rohit Kumar, worked in a garment factory on the Kapashera border in New Delhi but lost his job during the first lockdown in March 2022.
Archana Devi (right) with her brother Rohit and mother Savitri Devi (middle)
Profession
domestic
Her first match was in Assam in 2018, when she represented Uttar Pradesh U-16 team against Assam. She took three wickets in her first game. Soon, she was in the U-19 team and will graduate and join the India A team in November 2022. In the 2022 Women’s U19 T20 Challenger Cup, she will represent India’s C team.
International
In November 2022, she was named to the India squad for a five-match T20 series during the 2022/23 New Zealand Women’s Under-19 Girls Tour of India, held at the Mumbai Cricket Association’s pitch at Bandra Kurla Complex. She made her international debut on 29 November 2022 in the second match of the India Under-19 Women’s National Women’s National Cricket Team home series, taking three wickets. She represented the India A team in the 2022 Quad Women’s U19 T20 series, winning the match by 77 runs. She was named in the Indian squad for the 2023 ICC Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup. The team consisted of Shafali Verma (captain), Shweta Sehrawat (vice captain), Richa Ghosh (goalkeeper), G Trisha, Soumya Tiwari, Sonia Mendhiya, Hrishita Basu (goalkeeper), Sonam Yadav, Mannat Kashyap, Hurley Gala, Parshavi Chopra, Titas Sadhu, Falak Naz and Shabnam MD. The tournament will be held in South Africa in January 2023 and will be played in a T20 format. The Indian women’s cricket team wins the ICC Women’s U-19 Cricket World Cup by beating England by seven wickets in the final at Stroomson West Park, Potchef, South Africa, January 29, 2023.
India women’s U-19 team after winning 2023 U-19 T20 World Cup
The victory marked India in the history books as the inaugural age group championship champions. Archana Devi, a non-spinner, took two wickets in three rounds for 17 in a remarkable performance in the final. She also completed a stunning one-handed catch in the final.
Archana Devi performs a one-handed stunt during India’s match against England in the Women’s Under-19 T20 World Cup Final in Potchefstroom, South Africa, January 29, 2023
Facts/Trivia
- Her batting style is right-handed and her bowling style is right-arm attack.
- Her mother affectionately calls her baby.
- Archana grew up playing cricket with her brother Budhiman, who was a year older than her. One day she hits a shot and the ball lands in the unbuilt room they stopped building after their father died. Normally, Budiman would use a bat to get the ball out of the wood, but that day he was bitten by a cobra with his hand, killing him. Budhiman unconditionally supported Archana’s dream of becoming a cricketer and his last words were:
Archana ko cricket khilao” (Let Archana play cricket)
- Archana Devi’s mother, Savitri Devi, has long been a victim of a regressive mentality in Indian society. She was often ridiculed by relatives for “pointing her daughter down the wrong path” by encouraging her to play cricket. Savitri, who lost her husband to cancer and her son Budhiman to a snakebite, was known as a “daayan” (witch). Archana’s brother Rohit Kumar recalled the indignity his mother suffered in an interview, saying:
Meri maa ko daayan bulate them gaon waale, kehte they pehle apni husband ko kha gayi, fir apne bete ko, inko dekh le toh raasta badal lete them, humari ghar ko daayan ka ghar kahaa jaata tha. “(They used to call my mother) a witch, they would say she killed her husband first, then her son. If anyone saw her on the road, they would change course. Our family is called the House of Witches )
Savitri revealed in an interview that Archana liked to wear childish clothes and hated wearing dresses as a child. People would frown upon Akana’s sartorial style and accuse Savitri of his masculinity. When Savitri registered the Arcana at Kasturba Gandhi Awasiya Balika Vidyalaya in Ganj Moradabad (15-20 km from their hometown Ratai Purwa), there were rumors in the village that Savitri Ri has sold Arcana to some shady dealers. In the interview, Savitri recalled how her neighbors laughed at her, saying:
Ladki ko bech diya, ladki ko galat dhande mey daal diya hai, ye saari baatein mere muh pe Bolte They” (I sold my daughter, I led her on the wrong path. People often tell me this to my face matter)
Although the family worked hard to make ends meet, they were constantly hit by adversity. Rohit Kumar described the difficulties they faced:
We face flooding every year. Half the time our farm is under water from the Ganges. We depend on the milk of cows and buffaloes (one of each). It is because of our mother that we have survived for so many years. She even forced me to finish my graduation and now prepare me for a government job. “
Akana has taken all these setbacks in stride on his way to becoming a great cricketer.
- During the T20 World Cup final, due to frequent power outages, the local police arranged for inverters to ensure uninterrupted power supply to Archana Devi’s hometown Ratai Purwa.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education