Free Hit narrates, in telling detail, how after its origins in the 1960s and 70s, women’s cricket in India peaked in public memory as India qualified for the finals of the Women’s World Cup in 2017. It dives deep into the lives of a spirited bunch of women from its early days – Diana Edulji, Shubhangi Kulkarni, Shantha Rangaswamy – who fought unitedly for their right to play, compete, overcome sponsorship challenges, correct gender-based pay gaps and tackle the sheer indifference of cricket administrators along the way. It puts the spotlight on their struggles, adventures and victories and traces their journey all the way to the present lives of players such as Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Harmanpreet Kaur – all modern greats of the game.
Udayan Mitra, publisher – literary, HarperCollins India, said: ‘It's only recently, after decades of largely being ignored, that women cricketers in India have come into the limelight. Free Hit tells the exciting, adventurous story of our women cricketing heroes as they battle against the odds with a never-say-die attitude. It's a wonderful story to read especially with the women's World T20 tournament just starting.’
Suprita Das, author of Free Hit, said: ‘The journey of Free Hit has been one full of learnings, realizations and experiences for me. The fact that women’s cricket in India has made it this far, and has managed to produce the world’s highest run-getter and the world’s highest wicket-taker, among others, with little or nothing of an ecosystem for the most part of its journey, is tremendous. We hope the stories of these amazing and gritty women that we’ve attempted to capture in this book inspire many children to chase their dreams, and make the stakeholders of the sport realize that the potential in women’s cricket is truly unlimited.’
Free Hit will be published under Harper Sport, a dedicated imprint for sports books by HarperCollins. Some of the most exciting books on sport and by sportspersons, namely Abhinav Bindra (A Shot at History), Mary Kom (Unbreakable), Sania Mirza (Ace Against Odds), Sanjay Manjrekar (Imperfect), Ricky Ponting (At Close of Play), Shoaib Akhtar (Controversially Yours) have been published under Harper Sport.
About the Author
Suprita Das has worked as a sports journalist in India for more than a decade, during which she’s covered two editions of the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, and several other national and international tournaments. She won the RedInk Award for Excellence in Journalism in 2015. After a ten-year long stint with NDTV, she now works independently. Her first book, Shadow Fighter: Sarita Devi and Her Extraordinary Journey received rave reviews and is considered one of the finest sports memoirs from India. Free Hit is her second book.
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