They grew up playing cricket with the boys in their locality, never shying away from a challenge. Their names slowly started becoming famous on the domestic circuit, and after being picked for the ICC Women’s World T20 championships in England, Trisha Chetty and Denisha Devnarain are the first two players of Indian origin to make it to the South African women’s team.

Chetty needs a bit of help when asked to trace her Indian connection. “I asked my mom and she said we’re from Madras,” she says. “She tells me that some of our relatives still live there. I’m South African, born and brought up here, but proud of my India connection,” she says. “If India play South Africa, I root for South Africa, but against any other team I always support India.”

Devnarain, whose grandparents had moved to South Africa, says: “We are the first set of Indian-origin girls in the national team. Hopefully there will be more players who will make it soon.” Hindi is still spoken in the Devnarain home, and she’s learnt just enough to watch her favourite Bollywood movies. The two, best friends for almost 10 years, keep in touch with women players from India and Pakistan. “We discuss a lot of things with them over email, and we can’t wait to meet them in England,” says Chetty.

The girls will leave on May 22 for a preparatory camp ahead of the tournament but for the moment they are rooting for different teams in the IPL. Chetty, a wicketkeeper-batswoman, is following the Deccan Chargers because of Adam Gilchrist, while Devnarain is supporting the Delhi Daredevils even though her favourite player is Punjab skipper Yuvraj Singh.