At the time she’s talking to me, Lieutenant Meera Hyderabad is travelling to Sydney for the biggest match of her cricket career.
Selected as this year’s ADF member of the Governor General’s XI, she will don the green and gold against New Zealand in less than 24 hours. Lt Meera Hyderabad
“I don’t think it ever came past [my mind]. This has been an opportunity my younger self would be jumping for,” the 20-year-old wicketkeeper/batter tells me. Lt Meera Hyderabad
“Obviously there’s a bit of nerves coming into it, going into a new team, but I’ve been very fortunate I’ve played with a couple of the girls. They’ve reached out to me, congratulating me and welcoming me.”
But cricket is only half of the equation – most days, Lt Hyderabad is wearing khaki and calling fire as Artillery Officer in the Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery.
“The reason I chose artillery was I’ve always loved being active. Playing so much sport as a child, it set me up for wanting a hands-on role,” she says.
Though a world away from cricket, Lt Hyderabad finds this job enriching and complementary to her sporting career.
“When you break it down, the core aspects of both are the same. The military is extremely team based – you cannot do anything by yourself here. You’re working with others for that end goal. That’s pretty much the same in cricket as well,” she explains.
Lt Hyderabad says pursuing both careers helps her think outside the box when it comes to strategizing and have made her a better leader.
“It’s shown me how to work with different people, how to have fun and not always take life so seriously,” she says.
GG XI: A game twenty years in the making
Lt Meera Hyderabad was inspired to join the Australian Defence Force after Year 12 due to strong familial role models. Her maternal grandfather was a wing commander in the Indian Air Force, and aged 40, her mother has transitioned from working in banking to Victoria Police.
“For a typical Indian family, it might be something out of the ordinary. But I’ve been very fortunate. I have a very open-minded family and there’s not much you can say to make them shy away from your decisions,” she tells Indian Link. Lt Meera Hyderabad
Lt Hyderabad’s love of cricket also came from her Indian family, starting out as a cricket blast player and then playing for numerous local and state teams in Melbourne’s south-east growing up. Lt Meera Hyderabad
“My first ever training session dad took me to, I was just terrible at bowling a ball. I couldn’t get it halfway down the pitch! That was absolutely no hope for me. They gave me the gloves, and I’ve just fallen in love,” she says of becoming a wicketkeeper-batter.
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“I love to be involved with every single ball and everything that happens in the game – being a keeper allows you to have the best situational awareness. I’m a big chatter behind the stumps – the keeper is always the loudest person on the field.”
Along the way, she’s played with GG XI squad captain Nicole Fultum, and has shared coach Aldo Kerner with squad mate Hasrat Gill.
Lt Hyderabad is excited to reunite with Gill for this match, a childhood friend whom she’s been cheering on all these years.
“We’ve just been saying how much of a full circle moment it is to play juniors together and now put the green and gold on together – I don’t think many people can say that they’ve ever done that,” Lt Hyderabad smiles. Lt Meera Hyderabad
“[After] crazy different paths, we’ve playing in the same cricket team again… such a friendship starting at such a young age, even if we don’t have contact for a while, I don’t think it’ll ever fizzle out.”
It isn’t easy for Lt Hyderabad to keep up cricket alongside service, often spending months away from base training ‘outfield’, but she always manages to find her way to the pitch.
“There’s a lot of time that I’m spent away from home, which means I don’t get to play cricket. But once we’re back on barracks, soon as I’m knocked off from work, it’s back to the cricket nets,” she says.
“I’ve been blessed with an incredible chain of command; everybody in my unit and the Defence Force as a whole has been supportive of me pursuing a competitive career in cricket.”
She is grateful to her parents and coaches for preparing her for this moment and encourages any other young Indian women considering unconventional careers to ‘just go for it’. Lt Meera Hyderabad
“It might be something very different, like what I’m doing myself. But always strive for it,” Lt Meera Hyderabad concludes.
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