Step-by-step advice on pathways, clubs, competitions and coaching for getting into girls cricket and women’s cricket in Punjab.
Before Harmanpreet Kaur became a six-hitting machine for India, she was a six-hitting machine on the grounds of Moga, Punjab!
An academy that was set up just to help her develop her game when she first started has today given a new direction to the lives of scores of new students who want to be just like Harry di.
Before Harmanpreet, players such as Renu Magrate and Sunita Singh from Punjab rose to play for the Indian women’s national team. Taniya Bhatia, India’s current wicketkeeper-batter, plays for Punjab although she was born in Chandigarh.
Here’s how you can be a part of the Punjab women’s cricket team.
Where to start
Punjab is known for its sporting culture. There are opportunities to play plenty of sports here, so as a start, get involved with any of them! The fitness and mental toughness you gain will help if you do decide to pursue cricket as well.
Once you decide to take cricket seriously, join a private academy, or take up cricket in school. Many schools have coaching facilities for the sport.
You can start off playing some local tennis-ball tournaments.
Path to the Punjab state team
Punjab has women’s teams for Under-16, Under-19, Under-23 and senior age groups.
The process to reach the state level in like this: Trials → District cricket → Selection camp → State team
All cricketers start at the district level. Punjab has 20 district associations. Contact details of all of them may be found here.
Not all of them have women’s teams, but many of them do. The major districts with strong women’s teams are Moga, Patiala, Bathinda, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar and Mohali.
The districts hold open trials to select their teams. This means, the local association will put out word in newspapers and on social media inviting interested girls to come to a certain venue on a particular date with their documents. At the venue, after registration, the girls show what they can in the nets with the selectors watching. The most promising players are chosen to be the district team.
They then take part in an inter-district tournament. In 2019-20, there were eight teams that took part in this tournament, but this number changes.
The top players from the inter-district tournament are shortlisted to be in the state selection camps. These camps include training and some selection matches before the final state team is announced.
Facilities
There are private, state-run and Punjab Cricket Association-run facilities that female players can access.
Dhruv Pandove Cricket Stadium, Patiala; GRD Academy Ground, Ludhiana; Cricket Stadium, Gandhi Grounds, Amritsar; Burlton Park, Jalandhar; Aryabhatta College Ground, Barnala; and Blooming Buds School, Moga are designated regional coaching centres for women. Contact details for these are available here.
Contact PCA on pcastadium@yahoo.com or 0172-2232300/01/02
School cricket for girls in Punjab
There is some inter-school cricket in Punjab. Schools that take part include:
- Gyan Jyoti Senior Secondary School, Darapur (where Harmanpreet is from)
- Government Senior Secondary School for Girls, Rode
- SK Public School
- DAV school
The Punjab Education Department also organises trials for the Punjab State Championships at the U14 and U17 level. CBSE and ICSE boards, as well as the School Games Federation of India, organise tournaments.
College cricket for women in Punjab
Although there is no inter-collegiate tournament for women run by the state association, universities in the region do take part in inter-varsity competitions. Universities and associated colleges include:
- Guru Nanak Dev University (selection by trials or inter-university competition)
- Khalsa College, Amritsar
- Khalsa College for Women, Ludhiana
- BBK DAV College, Amritsar
- HMV College, Jalandhar
- KMV College, Jalandhar
Academies for girls & financial aid
Free coaching is given at almost all of PCA’s regional coaching centres and at the district level. (See the list above.)
- Gyan Jyoti Cricket Academy, Moga (coaching is free, students have to pay for stay and education)
- Government Senior Secondary School for Girls, Rode (coaching and kit is free)
- Maur Cricket Academy, Faridkot
If you have information on schools, colleges or academies that support girls cricket in Punjab, contact us and we’ll add it to this page!
Amazing information provided. I have one question that when te team is selected for U23 in Punjab. How can I join that team. Give the pathway and also inform me that when selection is started for U23 team in Punjab?