Spurning marriage helped young Kalpana from not only becoming a quality cricketer and also gave her a place in the senior Indian team against New Zealand in the recently-concluded limited overs tournament at Bengaluru.

The teenage wicketkeeperfrom Vijayawada was felicitated by Andhra Cricket Association here on Sunday and gave her a purse of Rs. 50,000. Women’s Academy chairman J. Murali Mohan presented Rs. 10,000 while Prakasam District Cricket Association secretary Pratap Kumar handed over Rs. 40,000 to laud Kalpana’s feat.

“Her (Kalpana) parents were keen on performing the marriage. But our coaches Srinivas Reddy and Chiranjeevi convinced them to allow their daughter to play cricket and the rest is history,” said ACA general secretary Gokaraju Ganga Raju.

Incidentally Kalpana is second cricketer after Vizag’s Sneha Deepthi to play for India from the ACA. “Women cricket took a decisive turn when J.K.C. College management in Guntur under the stewardship of late J. Narendranath gave the land for lease for setting up an academy. New Zealand coach Maria Fahey added the dose of professionalism and infused self belief in the girls,” said ACA director M.S.K. Prasad.

ACA president D.V.V.S. Somayajulu said that the association was helping players by granting a stipend of Rs 4,000 per month.

“The State players get Rs 4,000 while the zonal players take home Rs. 2,000. ACA is the only association in the Board for Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) which gives stipend on a monthly basis to players”.

Mr. Prasad said the Guntur women academy was adopted by the BCCI as the headquarters of Indian women cricket and all major Indian camps were allotted to the academy. He also felt Kalpana should improve her batting skills to survive in the Indian cricket for long.

Kalpana is second cricketer after Vizag’s Sneha Deepthi to play for India from the ACA