Remember the ten-year challenge that was some sort of a rage on social media? Okay, for those of you who don’t quite know, people put up a picture of themselves from exactly ten years ago, and a current one of theirs to highlight the difference. So much has changed since 2013. Governments, climate, technology, cricket.

On February 13, 2023, Hayley Matthews, much like the majority of the women’s cricket world, was in South Africa for the T20 World Cup. The first step in women cricket’s revolution, the WPL auction, was in progress, and Hayley was watching it from her hotel room. Her name came up, and …

“I got passed on in the first round, and that was a bit nerve-wracking. By the time the second round came around, I was at the training ground and my dad was there as well. He heard the girls in our room just cheering out loud, and he kind of just said to himself that ‘I hope it was Hayley getting picked’ because he couldn’t watch it at that time,” Hayley said in an exclusive chat with mumbaiindians.com.

It indeed was. And it was the Mumbai Indians’ table that had raised the paddle. Matthews Sr. had his wish granted. MI weren’t letting him switch loyalties.

“My dad was a Mumbai Indians fan from the first season of the IPL. So I kind of hopped onto the bandwagon at the same time. Someone brought up a tweet where I said, ‘Let’s go Mumbai’ ten years ago, and I saw it when I got signed in the auction. That was just pretty cool to see,” she said.

That tweet came when MI were doing everything they could to defend a pretty under-par 129 against SRH in Hyderabad. Hayley’s cheer was Paltan’s cheer. She was already in our #OneFamily.

Let's go mumbai #IPL

— Hayley Matthews (@MyNameIs_Hayley) May 1, 2013

“Mumbai Indians have had a pretty strong West Indian presence, you know, Kieron Pollard has been a veteran for Mumbai. We’ve then had players come on board like Fabian Allen, Jofra Archer. So to be the first female to be a part of the MI family is now is pretty exciting.

“My favourite is someone like Sachin Tendulkar, you can’t look past him as a Mumbai Indians player and an Indian cricketer great. One of the best batters in the world to ever do it. I am a huge fan and a have a huge amount of respect for him. Coming down and being able to play for the Mumbai Indians that so many legends have represented is big, like himself, Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard. The generations just continue going.”

Again, the world may have changed in these ten years. But some things just don’t ..