This year, after the Twenty20 series ends on December 20, Alana King won’t be joining her parents Leroy and Sharon, and brother Marc for Christmas festivities in her hometown, Melbourne. Perth is where she is headed, although she will still feel a sense of home with extended family milling around her. The muted giggles over a video call with King when we discuss how the typical Christmas meal at an Anglo Indian home pans out resonates with this writer, who also hails from the community. “We stay away from curries on that day! But somehow, an aunty or uncle will squeeze in a curry at the table. Generally, it’s someone from mum’s side who we meet at lunchtime. Then, everyone heads back home, naps a bit, and we visit dad’s side of the family for dinner. Dad does the cooking on Christmas, and his menu changes every year. There is an abundance of food; it’s the most notable trait of Anglo Indian culture and it gets amplified on Christmas,” she tells us. The leg spinner who burst on to the cricket scene in early 2022, making her debut across all three formats within a fortnight, is in the country—making this her second visit in one year—as part of the Australian national women’s team that is engaged in a five-match T20 series with India.   

King caught the eye of pundits as she rose through the ranks of club cricket, and eventually was selected to play the highly competitive Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL), Australia’s premier T20 tournament. Her curiosity for the game was born in her backyard, as she watched her father and brother play the game. “I enjoyed those matches. Dad played cricket in Madras, and then in Melbourne where he represents his employer, the Public Transport Department.” It was her brother’s coach who spotted the eight-year-old King and suggested she try out her skills. The parents who worried how she’d play with boys bigger and stronger, eventually agreed.