Ekta Bisht
एकता बिष्टborn 1986 · Public Life & Sport · Almora
Left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht of Almora was the first cricketer from Uttarakhand, woman or man, to play for India. Her hat-trick against Pakistan and her World Cup five-fors made her one of India's most reliable spinners of the 2010s.
She was born on 8 February 1986 in Almora, learned her cricket on the town's small grounds with her brothers, and fought her way into the Indian team in 2011 with no professional structure in her home state behind her.
Her left-arm orthodox became a fixture of India's attack across formats: a hat-trick against Pakistan in the 2012 World T20 qualifying phase of the Asia region, and at the 2017 World Cup a five-wicket haul against Pakistan that remains one of the tournament's defining Indian performances. She took over a hundred ODI wickets for India.
In Uttarakhand she carries a larger meaning: proof that the state's athletes could reach the top without leaving their identity behind. She has remained Almora's ambassador, and the state's young women cricketers follow a path she cut alone.