Women's Cricket Exclusive: Durgapur's Bidisha Dey is looking to emerge as an effective all-rounder

Durgapur has been known for producing some tough athletes over the years. From cricketers, and footballers to track athletes they have it all. However, this might be the first time a 15-year-old girl from the city would make everyone proud. Though the road is still long, Bidisha Dey's progression in cricket is a sign that the dream is not impossible. The medium-pacer all-rounder wants to play for India. But, for now, Bidisha Dey will have to go through the high-performance camp at NCA where she got selected along with Titas Sadhu and Hrishita Basu from Bengal.

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Like many other women cricketers, Bidisha too played a few other sports before realising her potential in cricket. She used to play football and even got admission to one of the coaching camps as well. Although things changed when she started playing cricket along with her brother and his friends. They saw that she could play.

Then, it was Bidisha's father, who noticed her genuine potential as a cricketer. "My father is the main reason I started playing cricket. We would go to the ground and he would bowl against me and we would play in the afternoon. That's how I realised that I could play and cricket was very natural to me. I was 12 or 13 at that time maybe," Bidisha told Sportz Point in an exclusive interview.

At first, Bidisha Dey was not a bowler when she first joined the Nabadiganta Sports Academy in City Center, Durgapur. "I used to bat and keep," she told. But one day her coach Shibnath Roy asked her to bowl as there were not many bowlers in the camp that day. "Sir saw me and told me that I can bowl. In a few days, I was bowling like a proper bowler and bowling became my first priority. I was quicker than others of my age," she told.

Later her fortune turned when she was picked for the CAB league and did well there. Then, she kept on getting better day by day. She caught the eyes of former Indian cricketers like Gargi Banerjee, and Mithu Mukherjee at the Byju's Women's T20 Challenge and she has not taken a step backwards from then on.

During the 2 months-long NCA camp for the ICC Women's U-19 World Cup, Bidisha has learned many things. Keeping the T20 format in mind, she is working hard on her slower balls, back-of-a-length deliveries and yorkers. "There were very good batters at the camp. So, I had to give my best to be on the list of 25. One thing I learned there is that you can not bowl full against better batters. I learned how to pull the length back and then apply slower ones at the death," Bidisha Dey expressed.

Although the main emphasis is on her bowling, she wants to contribute with the bat as well. "I can bat. I can bat at anywhere in the lineup, from number 4 to down the order. After coming back from NCA I have worked hard on batting to get better. I am looking forward to contributing as an all-rounder."

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With all of the skill and talent Bidisha Dey possesses, it is her fielding that makes her different from others. She is one of the best at her age when it comes to fielding. However, Bidisha wants to keep improving her fitness to be able to do all three parts of the game with more consistency.

"I can say I am one of the better fielders. So, I am trying to get better at that to be ahead of my competitors. For me, that is why I want to be more fit so that I can be on the field doing good in all three departments. Even I have left eating sweets fully as it is not good for my fitness," she added.

Bidisha is a fan of MS Dhoni and wants to do great things like her idol for India and Bengal. However, she is taking it to step by step. "I want to play for the senior Bengal team. That is the main goal now. If I get selected for the U-19 World Cup, I believe that would help me get selected for the senior team. From then on if I perform well everything will fall in place."