Amarnath and Aloka Roy at their Shyambazar residence on the eve of daughter Priyanka’s (above) T20 semi-final against New Zealand. Picture by Santosh Ghosh

India’s T20 title hopes are still alive at a Shyambazar address.

In the drawing room of 11B Balaram Bose Street — where framed newspaper cut-outs of Dhoni and his boys lifting the Twenty20 World Cup in 2007 find pride of place — the Roys are praying for a match-winning performance from daughter Priyanka in the ICC Women’s World T20 semi-final against New Zealand at Nottingham.

And they are hoping that they get to see Thursday’s match at least. “They will hopefully show the semi-final because the men’s semis are at Nottingham too. The men play at 10pm, the women at 6pm,” says Amarnath Roy, 65.

Priyanka’s parents Amarnath and Aloka Roy haven’t been able to watch a single ball bowled by the 21-year-old leg-spinner in the tournament being played in England at the same time as the men’s T20 World Cup.

Cricinfo.com and the morning papers are the family’s source of T20 sustenance. And offering prayers for their daughter’s spinning arm to Mangal Chandi.

So, when Priyanka came up with that match-winning spell of five wickets against Pakistan and won the Player-of-the-Match award on June 13, all that the Roys could do was wait for their daughter to call the next day.

“Ki aar kora jabe?” sigh the Roys, resigned to the men led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni hogging the limelight — in victory or in defeat — and the women led by Jhulan Goswami playing for pride and glory in relative anonymity.

“I have asked her to call home at least once a day,” says Amarnath Roy. Priyanka’s mother is quick to add that their rui machh bhaja-loving daughter often calls more than that. “This afternoon she called to say she was fine. She seemed confident about a win,” smiled Aloka Roy.

Priyanka, who started out playing cricket with her cousins in the lanes of north Calcutta and grew up idolising Shane Warne and Anil Kumble, is now the star spinner in women’s cricket.

“I have asked her to take this tournament very seriously and win it as a team,” says her proud father, an ex-second division CAB cricketer and sports lover.