Living The Dream: WPL Player Jintimani Kalita Once Thought Women Could Not Play Cricket

Jintimani Kalita, an Indian cricket player, represents Assam at the national level. She gained notoriety in 2023 after being signed by the franchise team Mumbai Indians for the inaugural season of the Women's Premier League.

Kalita started her cricket career at the age of 12. The WPL originally got her as a player from her state. Prior to taking up the bat and switching to become an opening fast bowler, Jintimani Kalita went to practice sessions with her brother when she initially started playing cricket.

WPL Player Jintimani Kalita

Jintimani Kalita's mother said that the main reason her daughter had not requested cricket lessons was that she was unaware that girls could play the game. She pushed her brother to be accepted into a coaching facility since she had always wanted him to become a cricket player. She informed her parents that the coach had asked her if she wanted to play when she got home after one of her brother's coaching sessions. When her grandmother insisted that Kalita play cricket, she did it while wearing flannels.

After training at the Mangaldai Cricket Ground, she started representing Assam at the regional level.

Initial B's lineup for the U-19 Women's One Day Challenger Competition in 2021–2022 included Kalita.

In the Senior Women's T20 League (2019) and Women's Senior One Day Inphy, Jintimani Kalita once again represented Assam (2021-22). Assam was four down for 56 in a match against Meghalaya in the Senior Women's One-Day Competition when Kalita took the field. She then played an inning of 78 of 114 balls, helping Assam reach 214.

In the Quadrangular Women's U19 T20 series in 2022, she played for India A against Sri Lanka and the West Indies; India A won by 7 wickets. She was purchased by Mumbai Indians at Rs 10 Lakh in 2023, to play for the Women's Premier League.

She was selected for the National Cricket Academy's (NCA) top 25 u-19 players list and invited to a high-performance camp in 2022.

She competed on behalf of the Dhamiri Dashers Women in the 2022 Byju Women's 120 Challengers Trophy and won the award for Player of the Match.

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