They say that cricket is like a religion in India, and for good reason. Growing up, there were hardly any households that did not have the sport playing on their television. As evening fell, almost every alley had small groups of young boys playing cricket. Every time India had a major victory, people flocked to the streets to celebrate. People in school even became friends because they were die-hard fans of the same IPL team. It was just there, so enmeshed with our daily lives that a life without it was almost unimaginable.
Yet, amidst all the celebrations and Chennai Super Kings versus Royal Challengers Bangalore debates, no one ever really noticed how cricket was basically only a men’s sport for most of us. Even though the Women’s Premier League was a much-needed step in bringing our female champions into the mainstream, only a few people can name more than two or three female cricketers, let alone have a good idea of the heights that the Women in Blue have scaled.
ICYMI, the Indian Women’s Cricket Team just secured a resounding victory against South Africa in the final match of the women’s T20 series. This was also their biggest win against the Proteas, where they completed an 85-run chase in ten and a half overs. This is not their only achievement: these women have won the Asian Games a record seven times, won silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, and even made it to the finals of the Women’s Twenty20 International World Cup in 2020.
If you knew about all that, I’m proud of you. If you didn’t, it’s never too late to start. And speaking of starting points, continue reading below to familiarise yourself with the T20I Women’s Indian Squad.
Harmanpreet Kaur
Captain Harmanpreet Kaur has been a prominent figure in women’s cricket. She is also the captain of Mumbai Indians in the Women’s Premier League. The talented batter has time and again left people in awe of her extraordinary skills on the pitch, for example, when she scored a record-breaking 171 runs off 115 balls in the 2017 World Cup against Australia.
Smriti Mandhana
Vice Captain Smriti Mandhana is the first Indian woman to score back-to-back centuries in ODI cricket and made headlines when she led the women’s RCB team to victory in the WPL. Additionally, the left-handed batter also scored a half-century at the Twenty20 against South Africa, securing their decisive victory in the finals.
Pooja Vastrakar
All-rounder Pooja Vastrakar has been a long-standing member of the Women in Blue, and her career-best bowling spell of 4-13 in the match against South Africa earned her the Player of the Match as well as Player of the Series.
Shafali Verma
At the age of 15, batter Shafali Verma became the youngest cricketer ever to play in a women’s T20 match for the Indian Cricket Team. She is also the fastest woman to score a double hundred in Women’s test cricket and only the second woman after Mithali Raj to do so.
Uma Chetry
Riyan Parag just became the first male cricketer from Assam to make it to the national team at the senior level, but long before him, wicketkeeper Uma Chetry became the first cricketer ever from Assam to play internationally for the Indian Squad.
Richa Ghosh
Wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh is also one of the youngest members of the team. She and Smriti Mandhana are the only two women selected in the 2024 Women’s Hundred, a 100-ball cricket tournament of eight teams in major cities across England and Wales.
Sajeevan Sajana
Sajeevan Sajana went viral for her jaw-dropping six when the Mumbai Indians needed five runs in just one ball to secure a win for her team at the very first match of the WPL. If that wasn’t enough, this was also the debut match of the passionate cricketer, who fought against all odds to make it to the Indian cricket team.
Jemimah Rodriguez
Jemimah Jessica Rodrigues is the second woman after Smriti Mandhana to score a double century in a 50-over cricket match. Additionally, the all-rounder is also an ardent hockey player and even played for the Under-17 Maharashtra field hockey team.
Deepti Sharma
Deepti Sharma is the highest-ranked all-rounder in the country and fourth in the world. Besides the Indian team, she plays for Bengal and Birmingham Phoenix.
Shreyanka Patil
Bowler Shreyanka Patil made history when she became the first Indian Cricketer in the Women’s Caribbean Premier league. She also plays for Karnataka and Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Radha Yadav
Bowler Radha Yadav is known for her aggressive style on the field and plays for Mumbai, Baroda and West Zone.
Asha Shobhana
Asha Shobhana made history when she became the oldest Indian woman to debut in international cricket at 33. The all-rounder plays for RCB at the WPL and for Pondicherry in domestic cricket.
Renuka Thakur
Pace bowler Renuka Singh Thakur was the leading wicket-taker in the 2019-2020 Women’s One Day League. She plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Himachal Pradesh, apart from the Indian women’s cricket team.
Arundhati Reddy
All-rounder Arundhati Reddy made her international debut in 2018 against Sri Lanka. This year, the Delhi Capitals cricketer returned to the T20I format after a three-year break.
Dayalan Hemalatha
Dayalan Hemalatha plays for Gujarat Giants in the WPL and the Railways in domestic cricket. The batter made her one-day international debut in 2018, against Sri Lanka.
