Jhulan Goswami, the stalwart of Indian women’s cricket, has decided to draw curtains on her illustrious international career following the England tour next month. On Friday, she was named in the Indian squad for three ODIs, starting September 18.
Jhulan was last seen in action during the ODI World Cup in New Zealand in March this year. She was expected to feature in July during the Sri Lanka tour but missed out because of fitness issues. She only regained her full fitness in mid-July and was selected for the England tour. She will bid adieu to the game as the highest wicket-taker in women’s internationals, with 352 scalps across formats.
The 39-year-old fast bowler from Bengal has been one of the stalwarts of women’s cricket. As she decides to call it a quit, let’s have a look at some of the top moments of her illustrious career.
Ball girl in 1997 Women’s World Cup
Born in 1982, Jhulan’s first love was football, but it was the 1992 world cup that shifted her focus to cricket. Later in 1997, she got the opportunity to have a closer look at the game. She was the ball girl during the Women’s World Cup in India. In one of the games, she was mesmerised by then Australian skipper Belinda Clark and that was the moment when she started dreaming of playing for India.
Debut in 2002
Jhulan evolved as one of the fearsome pacers of Bengal. Her spectacular performances in the domestic circuit led her to the Indian women’s team. On January 6, 2022, she made her international debut against England, in an ODI in Chennai. Well, that was just the beginning because the right-arm quick went on to become a legendary cricketer to have played the sport ever.
First World Cup in 2005
People have started recognising Jhulan as an Indian cricketer and in the dressing room, she was already being called the ‘Chakda Express’. She made it to the Indian squad for the 2005 women’s world and the team made its way to the finals. But unfortunately, they faltered against Australia in the finals. However, for Jhulan it was a great tournament as she picked up 13 wickets.
First Test fifty, against England
Jhulan now decided to focus on her batting as well. In 2006, her hard work paid off as she struck the first Test half-century, which came against England, helping India register their first-ever victory in the longest format of the game. In the next match of the series, she picked up five wickets in each innings and returned career-best figures of 10/78. In 2007, she would go on to win the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year award.
Jhulan – the Indian captain
Back in 2008, Jhulan was made the captain of India after Mithali Raj stepped down from her post. For the next three odd years, she had moderate success as captain.
200 ODIs in Women’s cricket
Earlier this year, Jhulan became only the second player in the history of women’s cricket to complete the milestone of 200 ODIs. She reached the feat during the Women’s World Cup in New Zealand. Mithali was the first woman cricketer to reach the feat. She also became the highest wicket-taker in ICC Women’s World Cup history during the clash against the West Indies.
National honours to her credit
Jhulan was conferred with Arjuna Award in 2010, and later she won the M. A. Chidambaram trophy. She received the Padma Shri award in 2012 and became the no.1 ranked ICC Women’s ODI bowler in 2016.
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