It took a personal intervention from Diana Edulji, a recommendation letter from Sachin Tendulkar and a stern conversation with the Railways Sports Promotion Board chairman before Harmanpreet Kaur, the India women’s cricket captain, secured a job with the Railways.

Recounting the episode at the launch of Her Story, Her Glory — Aditya Bhushan’s book chronicling the evolution of Indian women’s cricket — the former India captain revealed how bureaucracy almost derailed Harmanpreet’s move from Punjab.

“I was responsible for bringing her from Punjab because Northern Railway was not able to give her a good job there. There was a lot of red-tapism going on there,” said Edulji, an ICC Hall of Famer and a former India captain.

After persuading Harmanpreet to shift to Mumbai, Edulji found the process far from straightforward. Edulji then turned to Tendulkar, hoping his stature would help expedite the process.

“I approached the great Sachin Tendulkar. I requested him if he could give me a letter asking the Railways to help Harman get a job. He immediately agreed and I sent that letter to the Railway Board with Harman’s application.”

The response, however, stunned her. “To my surprise, the Railways rejected that letter. So you can imagine... I picked up the phone and called Arvind Kumar, the Railways Board chairman. I said, ‘The God of cricket, the Bharat Ratna, the best cricketer we have had. If you say no to him, who will you say yes to? Let me know or close shop’.”

The chairman invited her to Delhi to resolve the matter, but Edulji ensured the outcome benefited more than just Harmanpreet one cricketer. “I took Harman’s application along with five more from international wrestlers and weightlifters.... Six applications were approved on that day.”