Three freshers were included in India women’s team ODI tour to Sri Lanka. While their names—Kashvee Gautam, N Shree Charani and Shuchi Upadhyay—would strike a chord among WPL regulars, they are largely anonymous to the mainstream cricket watchers.
Kavshee Gautam
The 21-year-old from Chandigarh is a feisty right-arm seamer who could bowl at brisk pace with terrific control and penetration. She smartly varies her length and pace, and needless to say was the highest wicket-taker among Indian bowlers in the last IPL (11 wickets at an economy rate of 6.45). An active girl in childhood, she used to play multiple sports for fun in her neighbourhood before former domestic cricketer Sanjay Dhull watched her bounce out boys older than her and decided to talk to her about taking cricket seriously. Soon she joined Nagesh Gupta’s academy in Panchkula, where she polished her action and trimmed her run-up.
She soon made waves in age-group cricket. She was only 16, but was a regular in Chandigarh’s U-23 squad. In a T20 game against Arunachal Pradesh, she snared four wickets in as many balls. In an U-19 one-day game, she rattled off 49 from 68 balls before grabbing all ten wickets, which included a hat-trick. In the next game, she almost repeated the feat, but had to be satisfied with nine wickets. Little wonder that Gujarat Giants splashed Rs 2 crore to acquire her services, which made the most expensive uncapped player in WPL history. What’s more, she could biff a few sixes too.
N Shree Charani
The all-rounder for Andhra’s Kadapa district has just one dream.To hit six sixes an over like her idol Yuvraj Singh. She was only three when Yuvraj smoked six sixes off Stuart Broad in the 2007 T20 World Cup, but it was later when he stumbled into this footage when browsing the internet that the dream was born. Later, she became an ardent fan of Smriti Mandhana, but the eye for big shots is what prompted Delhi Capitals to gobble her up for Rs 55 lakh during the auctions. Her left-arm spin is equally efficient, as she hits tight lines and stifling lengths. In the WPL, the opportunities came at a premium but in her two games, she picked up four wickets.
Growing up, she was hooked to badminton and kho-kho, but when she was in her seventh grade, her father brought her a cricket kit and her uncle used to take her to the local ground and make her practice with tips from Youtube. A local coach then spotted her and took her into his academy. She has not turned back since.
Shuchi Upadhyay
The left-arm spinner from the tribal dominated Mandla region in Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur, she is regarded as an ideal long-format cricketer with her ability to bowl long spells without tiring. A spinner in the classical mould, who flights the ball and gets turn off the surface, she is no slouch in white-ball forms either. In the Senior Women’s One-Day Trophy held in December last, she was the third highest wicket-taker, snaring 18 wickets at a tremendous economy rate of 3.48 and an average of 15.44 in nine games. She was her team’s leading light to winning the title.
The 24-year-old’s cricket journey took off when her father one evening saw her play cricket with the boys in the housing complex and suddenly got a gut feeling that she could become a cricketer. But no girl played cricket in her town but he somehow convinced a local club’s coach to train her and make her play alongside boys. She performed well in local tournaments and attended trials, when she got picked to the academy in Jabalpur.
