Indian Women Batter VR Vanitha Announces Retirement at Age 31

By: WE Staff | Tuesday, 22 February 2022

Vellaswamy Rama Vanitha, who represented India Women in six ODIs and 16 T20Is between 2014 and 2016, has retired from all forms of cricket. The 31-year-old made her declaration on Twitter, thanking her family, friends, mentors, and teammates - including India stars Jhulan Goswami and Mithali Raj - as well as the two state associations she represented in domestic cricket, Karnataka and Bengal - for their support.

Vanitha batted in the middle order in ODIs and frequently started the batting in T20 cricket. Her career was typified by a tendency to get off to fast starts without quite finishing them - she had five 25-plus scores in 15 T20I innings, but only a maximum score of 41 - and as a result, her ODI and T20I averages were 17.00 and 14.40, respectively.

Vanitha, on the other hand, was in fine form for Bengal during the 2021-22 domestic season, assisting them in reaching the Women's Senior One-Day Trophy semi-finals. Her 225 runs included 61 against Andhra Pradesh and a 71-ball 107 against Hyderabad, and her strike rate of 109.75 was the second-best among batters who scored at least 150 runs in the tournament.

Vanitha hasn't said what she plans to do once she hangs up her boots, but she did say in her parting statement that she plans to devote herself to "grooming emerging talents in cricket."