CHENNAI: On Sunday evening, coach Shravan Kumar was in a hurry to get back home in Delhi. He did not want to miss his pupil — Nepal’s Puja Mahato — batting against Pakistan in the ongoing Women’s Asia Cup in Sri Lanka. Shravan reached in time to applaud Mahato when she walked out to bat in Dambulla.

At that time, the scoreboard read 40/4, with 10.4 overs to go. Mahato, along with Kabita Johi (31 n.o), put her foot down and slowly revived the innings. She scored 25 from 32 balls as Nepal finished with 108/6 in 20 overs.

Nepal might have lost by nine wickets, but on the day Mahato helped Nepal put up a fight. Shravan, the coach who has trained the likes of Ishant Sharma and Harshit Rana, remembers the first time she came to him for training at Rohtak road, Gymkhana Club. “She started coming for training with me when she was in school,” Kumar told this daily.

“When she started I told her she could join but I would not take any money from her. She used to stay near my coaching centre. So there was no long commute for her and I think it worked for Puja well. Initially, I thought she was from Bihar, but then she told me that her family is from Nepal. I suggested she give it a shot, maybe she can play for the national side there. I think it is the coach’s responsibility to tell players what is better for them,” the coach mentioned.

Mahato made her international debut for Nepal in the Women’s T20 Quadrangular Series in Malaysia last year, which her team won. Earlier this year when Mahato and Rubina Chetry added a partnership of 166 runs against Maldives in the Women’s Premier Cup organised by the Asian Cricket Council. To date, it is the highest partnership for the fifth wicket in women’s cricket, while the highest for Nepal.