Geeta Rawat, a 47-year-old passionate cricket enthusiast from Borivali, Mumbai, is realizing her dream as a scorer in the ongoing MI Junior Inter-School Cricket tournament. Unable to play cricket during her younger years, she embraced scoring on the advice of her son's coach, Mr. Iqbal Thakur. Rawat, a certified scorer with the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), has been scoring for five years, passing the MCA scorers' exam a couple of years back. The previous edition of MI Junior last year saw the introduction of female umpires and scorers for the first time in the competition. The hugely successful initiative was continued this year with Rawat being one of the beneficiaries. 

“I always had an interest in playing and watching cricket. But when I was young, it wasn’t easy for women to play cricket. My son also had a liking for cricket, so I enrolled him in a coaching class. That is when I grew closer to cricket. My son’s coach, Mr Iqbal Thakur, saw my passion for cricket and asked to take the scoring course. It was a freelance role, so it suited me. I had always wanted to do something in the field of cricket. At that age, I couldn’t have become a cricketer, so I decided to become a scorer,” she says.

Rawat first began by scoring in school tournaments and then started to score private tournaments too after gaining more confidence.

“I have been a scorer for five years now but I passed the Mumbai Cricket Association’s (MCA) scorers’ exam a couple of years back. I was a scorer in private tournaments before that.”

“My son’s coach was the one who told me to take the MCA exam. He gave me the opportunity to be a scorer in the matches that were held in the school he coaches in. That is how my journey as a scorer started at the VK Krishna Menon school in Borivali. My knowledge increased as I scored more matches, especially in private tournaments. He could see that I was confident now and my scoring was perfect. That is when I decided to give the MCA exam,” she elaborates.

Having grown up in Mumbai, Rawat is a designer and used to work in the fashion industry before her love for cricket took over.

“I am a fashion designer and had a job earlier. I then shifted to scoring and now only do designing as a freelancer when I get time.”

A certified scorer with the MCA, Rawat takes pride in scoring for the Girls' matches in the MI Junior tournament, emphasizing the significance of the platform for young players to showcase their skills and potentially join Mumbai's age group squads. Her ultimate dream is to score in a Ranji Trophy match, showcasing her commitment to continual improvement in her scoring career.

“It is an amazing tournament and a great platform for young kids. The facilities are absolutely top notch and young kids can learn a lot. I feel especially proud when I score for the girls’ matches. They are young and still learning but their passion stands out for me. The most important thing is that they are getting playing time and competitive cricket, which is invaluable. Seeing young girls get such a good platform is really pleasing.”

“I want to become the best scorer in MCA. I always strive for perfection and look to improve all the time. I want to even better than I’m doing now and want to score in more matches organised by the MCA,” she concludes.