Last year, in the opening match of the 2024 WPL season, Mumbai Indians needed five off the last ball against Delhi Capitals. That's when S Sajana, on debut, walked out into the middle, but her mind went blank.
She had never envisioned such a situation. The packed Chinnaswamy Stadium seemed quiet and empty to her. The pressure even made the fielders around her look blurry. But she told herself that if she needed to make her name known, she had to make a statement. And when DC's Alice Capsey erred on length and bowled right into the slot, Sajana came down the track and smoked the ball over long-on for a winning six. That shot, she says, transformed her life.
"To be frank, for a debut player to be in that kind of situation…" Sajana says. "But [MI] coach Charlotte [Edwards] always used to remind me about my role. She said to me, 'SS, your role is to be a finisher. You'll get maximum six, seven balls, or even just two or three balls, to bat in an innings. So you need to hit and smash the ball in those chances'. So even at the nets I kept practising that way.
"But not even in my dreams did I expect to be in a situation like that. I told myself, if I hit that six and win the game for my team, this would be Sajana's life-changing moment. So I was confident. If you need to change something in life, you need to execute it and make it happen. And I made it. In my debut game, because of me my team won and that still makes me very happy."
As she had hoped, it did transform her life. Through the 2024 WPL, she contributed crucial runs from the lower order, at the strike rate of 158.18, second-highest among all batters, and emerged as a player with a rare skill set in the women's game: a big-hitting allrounder. The India call-up came soon and she made her way into the 2024 T20 World Cup squad as well, where she was put in yet another unexpected situation.
India captain Harmanpreet Kaur had walked off with a neck injury, with the team needing two runs from eight balls against Pakistan in the group-stage game, and Sajana had to quickly pad up and rush to the middle. She finished the game, this time with a four off the first ball she faced, to help India clinch the low-scoring match.
"I don't know how I always end up in such situations," she says with a chuckle. "I think against Pakistan, there's always this extra boost that we need to perform well, I don't know for what reason. So I was like, it's a Pakistan game, whether or not I get a chance - I told myself I will do a good job. That time Deepti [Sharma] was my partner [at the other end], and she told me in the middle, 'The bowler will bowl full. If you get a full-length ball, smash it.' And the first ball I got was in the slot and I hit it for a four. That was really amazing."
Perhaps the reason Sajana has been intent on making career-defining statements on the field is the tough circumstances she grew up in. Hailing from Wayanad in Kerala, she took up cricket on the encouragement of her physical education teacher, Elsamma Baby, mainly as a means to make money and support her family. Her father, Sajeevan, was an auto-rickshaw driver and her mother, Sharada, a panchayat councillor.
"We were financially zero," she says. "When I used to play for the district, I got paid Rs 150. I used to save that 150 and make it 300, 600... and then give that amount to my parents. I used to be so happy." Things got a bit brighter for the family when she started consistently playing domestic cricket and was named the Kerala State Association (KCA) Player of the Year twice in a row.
The 2018 Wayanad floods washed her family's house away. Sajana lost most of her belongings, including her trophies and cricket equipment. But the situation also made her realise she had a great support system around her, with unexpected help coming from Tamil actor Sivakarthikeyan, who was one of her co-stars in Kanaa, a Tamil sports drama film released that year in which she played herself.
"Sivakarthikeyan sir called me and asked me if I needed help. I told him, 'Anna [brother], my cricket kit is completely gone. I just need new spikes.' Within one week I got new spikes. I also had to go for the Challenger Trophy at that time and everyone there would ask how my family was doing and I used to get tense. But everyone was supportive, enquiring and trying to help."
The Covid-19 pandemic hit harder but support from the Wayanad District Cricket Association helped her get back on her feet. Then MI bought her at the WPL player auction for Rs 15 lakh (about US$20,000 at the time), her performances got her a spot in the India team, and she has finally found some financial stability.
"Now, with my earnings, my parents' housing loans are getting covered," she says.
Just breaking into the Indian team doesn't cut it for her. She wants to be a regular in the side, and for that, she says, she needs to be upgrading her skills constantly.
As a player who has a solid off-side game, Sajana says she wants to learn to play shots around the ground like Suryakumar Yadav and Sanju Samson.
"I want to borrow shots from SKY. Even Sanjuettan these days is hitting like that. I want to use the crease like that against spinners. SKY, the way he uses the speed of the ball to hit everywhere, the 360-degree hitting. I want to try these things. Maybe during the off season I will try and learn all that."
She says she owes her big-hitting skills to the softball cricket she grew up playing as well as encouragement from her coaches, specifically K Rajagopal, who coached her in Thiruvananthapuram.
"There's no concept of defence in softball cricket," she says. "That's where I developed my hitting game. But once I transitioned to domestic cricket, when I tried to hit hard, I kept getting out. So then I started going back to playing out singles. After that - before WPL that is - Rajagopal sir told me, 'You have power and strength, why are you worried about hitting big?' So I went back to hitting big and the WPL first six also was thanks to the courage sir gave me." The positive reinforcement from those at MI helped too.
"Even that six I hit was thanks to the MI team. I have so much self-doubt as a player but the coaches and Harry di [Harmanpreet] keep motivating me and remind me that I am capable. They encourage me to play my natural game. My self-doubt has gone down from 90% to just 10% thanks to this."
She also has the WDCA and KCA to thank for their push to prioritise women's cricket. Wayanad has so far produced four India players: Sajana, Minnu Mani, and Under-19 players VJ Joshitha and Najla Noushad.
"Touch wood," she says when asked how Wayanad keeps churning out India players.
"WDCA is a blessing for us," she says. "Our secretary, Nazir Machan sir deserves credit. When I call him and say I am at home and need the turf facility, he'll say I can use everything - gym, turf everything. When you get these kinds of facilities - others don't get this much - we are motivated to use them. Even the manager, Hari sir, keeps asking when I am coming and he says he will arrange the required bowlers, asking what kind of bowlers I want.
"When you see so many players breaking into the Indian team, the youngsters back home start dreaming too, hoping if their chechis [sisters] can make it to the Indian team, they can also do it."
Kerala winning the U-23 Women's T20 league in 2018 - the state's first national title across genders - under Sajana's captaincy was a turning point for women's cricket in the state. The quality of the camps improved, new training equipment and facilities were brought in, and it also paved the way for an inter-state women's tournament called the Pink T20 Challengers, which has now run for five editions.
"After we won the U-23 title, KCA made sure to take care of women's cricket," Sajana says. "We used to have 20-day camps before but after the title we started getting month-long camps. We had fitness camps, bowlers camps, batters camps, nutrition classes. That helped us become professional cricketers.
"Around 120 cricketers registered for the Pink tournament back then and I was like, 'Wow there are so many girls who want to play cricket.' They also organise talent hunts across districts. It was via these tournaments that we - me, Minnu, Najla, Joshita - and all came up."
Sajana hopes her journey inspires the next generation of aspiring cricketers from Kerala. She is confident the state will continue to produce more international players.
"[Everyone knows] where I was to now where I am," she says. "If they ask [someone] who do you want to be like and they say, 'I want to be like Sajana chechi', that would mean success for me.
"On and off the field I want to be a good human being, the one everyone likes. In small academies I've heard coaches say, 'Become like Sajana chechi.' That's just amazing to hear."