At a time when the Union Ministry is busy devising long-term plans of tackling the Maoist situation in Jharkhand’s troubled zones, a former international woman cricketer is going about a similar a mission in her own way.

Seema Desai isn’t a popular name in the country’s cricketing community. She’s played just two Test matches for the senior Indian women’s team and retired in May this year. It was over the last three months that she’s been doing what few would dare — coaching young girls from sensitive Maoist-hit areas of Jharkhand’s far-flung pockets.

In her early 30s, Seema is the coach of Jharkhand’s senior women’s team, working on the payroll of the Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA). And part of her job — she’s been coaching for three months now — is to fish out budding women cricketers from the disturbed hotspots, and then train and groom them.

The Indian Express caught up with the maverick cricketer-turned-coach at the Eden Gardens today as she is in town for a coaches’ refresher course under the aegis of the National Cricket Academy (NCA).

“It’s a great task, what I am into. It’s not just about training and helping out the current crop of women cricketers. I also have to ensure that we have girls coming in from all far-away parts of Jharkhand, be it the towns or troubled areas. We have young girls coming in from Jamshedpur, Bokaro, Dhanbad and also from the distant and little-known areas,” Seema explained, when asked if the sensitive pockets are in the JSCA’s catchment zones.

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