sachinchavan 15865
Well-Known Member
If you are a cricket fan, but aren’t following the Indian women’s cricket team yet, you are missing out on a phenomenon - the making of a world-beating side!
I doubt anytime before in the history of Indian women’s cricket there has been so much talent together. Especially on the batting side and spin bowling. And under a passionate and highly supportive captain in Harmanpreet and the inspiring vice captain, Smriti Mandhana. we’ve become almost unbeatable at home over the past couple of years. And a force to reckon with everywhere we go.
And the good news is, except Harmanpreet (35), Gaekwad (33) and Rana (30), the entire team is below the age of 28 years! Leave out Smriti and the rest are all below 26. The average age might be 25 or lower! So, this unit has a good 6-10 years together to keep getting better and achieving laurels for themselves and Indian cricket.
Also, unlike before, the bench strength is strong too For each position in the team, today there are three quality contestants. Our Under-19 team won the World Cup recently in a dominant fashion and a lot of them are waiting on the sidelines.
And there’s no shortage of stars either. While we had only Mithali and Jhulan in the previous generation, today we have Smriti (opener par excellence), Shafali (the lady Sehwag), Jemimah (classic and steady), Deepti (dependable), Vastrakar (all-round), Ghosh (Pant/Dhoni in the making at 20), Renuka (swing queen), Shreyanka (all-round talent) all of whom can achieve greatness by the time they hang their boots. A lot of them are also interesting characters both on and off the field and they all gel so well together as a team (since Harmanpreet took over from Mithali around 3 years ago)! Even the leadership pipeline is set, with Smriti ready to take over from Harmanpreet when she decides to retire (she is still fit and has easily 2-3 years left in her), and Richa, seven years younger to Smriti, shaping up to become her deputy.
All of this foretells a period of world dominance ahead. And for fans of test cricket like me, the good news is we have started playing more tests than in the last two decades. Already we beat England handsomely in the series earlier this year. And now, we’ve started with a bunch of records on day one in the first test against S Africans who were left all but hapless against the strong batting line up of the home team.
I watched the first three hours of live game yesterday, and that was enough for our openers to score that record breaking partnership. While Smriti is undoubtedly the batter of her generation, Shafali, like Sehwag, is a blistering stroke player who seems to come into her own in test cricket. Well, she scored a double century at more than run a ball! India ended up with 525/4 on day one! By any standards, this is phenomenal, and the SA team aren’t pushovers. With Harmanpreet and Richa at the crease, and Deepti and Pooja to follow, we can expect an early declaration at 700 odd by lunch today and expect our bowlers to do their part over the next two and half days bowling out SA twice.
Pic courtesy: cricshots dot com
The only department we lag in comparison with top sides like Eng, Aus and NZ is pace bowling. While we have some good swing bowlers in Renuka, Arundhati etc, Pooja Vastrakar is the only one with real pace. We’d need a battery of pacers if we need to regularly win abroad.
But, all said and done, this team is the one the look forward to over the next 4-5 years. Like Ganguly’s team, they are on the ascendancy to becoming a champion side, a force to reckon with. And with the riches of talent, it makes a very interesting and rewarding journey to witness closely. If you love watching and following cricket, but haven’t followed the women’s game, it’s the best time to start now!
Pic courtesy: news 18 dot com
I doubt anytime before in the history of Indian women’s cricket there has been so much talent together. Especially on the batting side and spin bowling. And under a passionate and highly supportive captain in Harmanpreet and the inspiring vice captain, Smriti Mandhana. we’ve become almost unbeatable at home over the past couple of years. And a force to reckon with everywhere we go.
And the good news is, except Harmanpreet (35), Gaekwad (33) and Rana (30), the entire team is below the age of 28 years! Leave out Smriti and the rest are all below 26. The average age might be 25 or lower! So, this unit has a good 6-10 years together to keep getting better and achieving laurels for themselves and Indian cricket.
Also, unlike before, the bench strength is strong too For each position in the team, today there are three quality contestants. Our Under-19 team won the World Cup recently in a dominant fashion and a lot of them are waiting on the sidelines.
And there’s no shortage of stars either. While we had only Mithali and Jhulan in the previous generation, today we have Smriti (opener par excellence), Shafali (the lady Sehwag), Jemimah (classic and steady), Deepti (dependable), Vastrakar (all-round), Ghosh (Pant/Dhoni in the making at 20), Renuka (swing queen), Shreyanka (all-round talent) all of whom can achieve greatness by the time they hang their boots. A lot of them are also interesting characters both on and off the field and they all gel so well together as a team (since Harmanpreet took over from Mithali around 3 years ago)! Even the leadership pipeline is set, with Smriti ready to take over from Harmanpreet when she decides to retire (she is still fit and has easily 2-3 years left in her), and Richa, seven years younger to Smriti, shaping up to become her deputy.
All of this foretells a period of world dominance ahead. And for fans of test cricket like me, the good news is we have started playing more tests than in the last two decades. Already we beat England handsomely in the series earlier this year. And now, we’ve started with a bunch of records on day one in the first test against S Africans who were left all but hapless against the strong batting line up of the home team.
I watched the first three hours of live game yesterday, and that was enough for our openers to score that record breaking partnership. While Smriti is undoubtedly the batter of her generation, Shafali, like Sehwag, is a blistering stroke player who seems to come into her own in test cricket. Well, she scored a double century at more than run a ball! India ended up with 525/4 on day one! By any standards, this is phenomenal, and the SA team aren’t pushovers. With Harmanpreet and Richa at the crease, and Deepti and Pooja to follow, we can expect an early declaration at 700 odd by lunch today and expect our bowlers to do their part over the next two and half days bowling out SA twice.
Pic courtesy: cricshots dot com
The only department we lag in comparison with top sides like Eng, Aus and NZ is pace bowling. While we have some good swing bowlers in Renuka, Arundhati etc, Pooja Vastrakar is the only one with real pace. We’d need a battery of pacers if we need to regularly win abroad.
But, all said and done, this team is the one the look forward to over the next 4-5 years. Like Ganguly’s team, they are on the ascendancy to becoming a champion side, a force to reckon with. And with the riches of talent, it makes a very interesting and rewarding journey to witness closely. If you love watching and following cricket, but haven’t followed the women’s game, it’s the best time to start now!
Pic courtesy: news 18 dot com
