Healthy competition one of the key factors to India's recent success, says Ekta Bisht

India left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht, who has been a central figure in the team over the last couple of years, said that this trend is a good sign for the health of the women's game in India.

“These days, there are many women cricketers coming from small towns — Moga, Almora, Chandigarh, Haryana," Bisht told The Indian Express during an Instagram Live session on Saturday (June 28). "Parents send their girl kids out to play cricket in these places now. What was earlier considered bad is now considered good. This support, which was earlier not there, is the best thing. This support will only increase, more and more parents will send their daughters out to play.”

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The 34-year-old, who hails from Almora, a small town in Uttarakhand - a town with little to no cricket facilities - spoke of her battle coming through the ranks. With the state not part of the domestic system at the time, Bisht first had to navigate her way into the Uttar Pradesh team, before trying to climb higher up the ladder.

“It was a big struggle — coming from a small town, then making a place for myself in Uttar Pradesh, then moving further forward, meeting so many new people. I didn’t even know how to bowl on turf wickets,” she said.

Bisht acknowledged the support of her family through the tough period, admitting that despite their financial struggles, her parents never discouraged her from playing.

“After my father retired from the Army, he opened a tea stall. Our financial situation was not very good. There used to be samosas as well. We also used to go there sometimes,” she recounted.

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She also singled out her coach, Liyakat Ali, as a major source of inspiration through her early years. “He played cricket also but didn’t get as good a platform as me."

A year after her international debut, in 2012, Bisht became the first Indian, male or female, to take a T20I hat-trick - achieving the feat against Sri Lankan in the T20 World Cup.

“I was a little nervous, but seniors like Jhulan Goswami supported me, gave me confidence. After I took two wickets in two balls, we said we’ll take the hat-trick. Jhulan herself was standing at deep mid-wicket, the catch went straight to her.”

“I didn’t think about the hat-trick much then. I was just thinking about keeping runs down as it was the last over. Much later I came to know that I had been the first Indian to take a T20I hat-trick, that felt good,” she added.

Through the course of her nine-year international career, Bisht has made 104 appearances for India across formats, taking 152 wickets. She has also featured in two ODI and four T20 World Cups through this period.

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Most famously, she was part of India's 2017 World Cup campaign in England where they lost in the final.“Our problem seems to be mental toughness. We play well, we do everything well, but we cannot hold our nerves in the final of big tournaments. We lose our game in pressure situations. We need to work on this as a team.”

Bisht, who is now the senior-most spinner in the setup which also consists of Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwar, Deepti Sharma and Radha Yadav, said one of the major positives about the Indian team right now is the "healthy competition." With a strong group of players vying for places in the team, each one is consistently trying to improve, which in turn helps the team, she said.

“There is some healthy competition between the spinners in the team, but the biggest competition everyone has is against herself, so that they can keep up the level of their performance every successive match. The younger spinners coming up are also showing great signs, they will take the team forward and win all the big trophies,” she concluded.