Reminiscing her Cricket Journey Jhulan Suggests India to Own a Women's IPL

By: WE Team | Thursday, 10 September 2020

Indian cricketer Jhulan Goswami believes that a full-fledged women IPL would add-on as one of the great achievements for India. Particularly for the upcoming female players, as they would get the opportunity to share the dressing room with "top Indian and international talent".

Jhulan is one of the world's highest wicket-taker in ODI cricket. She recalled how her cricket journey begun and says that the 1997 Women's World Cup was held in India and she feels was lucky enough to get a ticket, but back then she didn't have much knowledge about the World Cup. The tickets sent by the West Bengal government to the girl's school helped her, as she was part of the school sports team.

Along with her dad, Jhulan started towards Calcutta from her village. This was the first time Jhulan had visited Eden Gardens, while, she was still standing in front of the Association's main gate the Bengal cricket team had pointed at her and invited her to be their ball girl, Jhulan treasures it to be one of the proudest moment of her life.
Jhulan has faced a lot of criticism and harsh comments, but watching the Australian and New Zealand girls play in the final has inspired her. Post that, Jhulan was determined to play the sport and represent the country, and thus, she took up the game seriously and decided to make it her career. Also, the 37-year-old believes that age is just a number and professional athletes never think much about it.

Jhulan feels, instead of focusing on one's age the player should pay heed to their passion, love, and hard work for the sport. Being on the pitch and giving in your best would be the most satisfying for any athlete and this what Jhulan has been practicing. 

In the 2017 World Cup, India had reached the finals and Jhulan was a key member of the squad. Sadly, the team was short by nine points. But, Jhulan considers this opportunity to play opposite a packed house at Lord's in the final itself as a huge achievement. Though the team started the World Cup on a high note, it was absolute teamwork. Whether it is about Smriti Mandhana, Mithali Raj, Ekta Bisht, Deepti Sharma, Shikha Pandey, or Rajeshwari Gayakwad, everyone has contributed as a team.

Making it up to the final, and losing at just the last 10 overs after dominating prior 90 overs in English bowling was a big thing. The team couldn't handle the pressure, though it is painful we have to move on, says Jhulan. Despite all these, the 2017 World Cup was the year of revolution for women's cricket in India. The team's performance over the last three years from 2017 to 2020 has been consistent. 

Furthermore, she is also excited about her upcoming biopic where Anushka Sharma is portraying her role. About her excitement, she says she is nervous about how people would receive it and is hoping it would motivate many young minds to pick up sports.