India skipper Mithali Raj seems to be massively impressed with six-year-old Mehak Fathima’s game. The girl from Thodanur, Kerala has been offered assistance by Raj to hone her skills. A few days earlier a video of Mehak playing exquisite shots had gone viral on social media.
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“She has both my support and blessings. All little girls keen to pursue the sport always have my blessings. Her parents can DM me regarding any assistance they need,” Mithali commented to a tweet by BJP spokesperson Kunal Sarangi, who drew the lady cricket superstar’s attention while sharing Mehak’s video on Sunday.
Congree MP Shashi Tharoor too appreciated Mehak’s skills and tweeted, “looks pretty correct in technique too, for a 6 year old! This is Ekalavya reborn if she learned so much just watching!”
"Are you not teaching me because I am a girl?", six-year-old Mehak Fathima from Kozhikode asked her father after she saw him teaching her three-year-old brother. So he taught her too. Now, look at this little star!VC: Mehak fathima(mehak_fathima__ on Instagram) pic.twitter.com/mG9C3IyOhl
— The Better India (@thebetterindia) June 12, 2021
The video was also shared by industrialist Anand Mahindra, Jemimah Rodrigues, and former women’s national team fielding coach Biju George. Her father Muneer MK, who had represented Kozhikode in age-group cricket trains Mehak.
“When I bought a cricket bat for my three-year-old son Mohammed around nine months ago, Mehak asked me — Are you not teaching me because I am a girl? As I started training her, I realised that she’s learning quickly and doing well. To give more exposure to my kids, I started Instagram accounts and kept posting their videos. But I never thought it would become popular like this,” Muneer told New Indian Express.
After the training videos went viral, Biju George, who trained Sanji Samson, called up the family and suggested them to continue with their training. Several others have offered help to Mehak and her family, whose favourite player is Smriti Mandhana. The family is now eagerly waiting for the Covid-19 cases to come down so that they can resume formal training.
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