Indian women’s cricket got a fresh face today and she’s seriously impressive already. Vaishnavi Sharma walked onto the field for her T20I debut against Sri Lanka. The 20-year-old left-arm spinner hails from the Chambal region in Madhya Pradesh surprisingly enough.
Here’s what’s wild about her story – she never played in the Women’s Premier League. Most cricketers nowadays get their national call-ups after shining in the WPL first. But Vaishnavi Sharma forced her way in purely through domestic performances which is rare.
India demolished Sri Lanka by 8 wickets with Jemimah Rodrigues smashing 69* off 44 balls. The debutant didn’t disappoint either by conceding only 16 runs across her 4 overs. Not bad for someone playing her very first international match under pressure there.
Journey from Gwalior to Team India
Vaishnavi Sharma picked up cricket at age five training at Tansen Cricket Academy in Gwalior. She became the first player from the Chambal region ever to represent India at this level. That’s huge for an area not known for producing top cricket talents before.
She captained India’s Under-19 team that won the Women’s T20 World Cup earlier this year. The left-arm spinner finished as the tournament’s highest wicket-taker with 17 wickets total. That performance basically forced selectors to notice her abilities despite no WPL experience yet.
The BCCI gave her the Jagmohan Dalmiya Trophy for Best Woman Cricketer during 2022-23. Her domestic numbers speak louder than any trophy though with consistent performances throughout seasons.
Numbers That Got Her Selected
She demolished batting lineups in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy by taking 21 wickets. The Senior Women’s Inter-Zonal T20s saw her grab 12 wickets in only five matches. Selectors couldn’t ignore someone bowling this well consistently across different tournaments happening back-to-back.
This Sri Lanka match is basically practice for the T20 World Cup coming up. England hosts that tournament where pitches behave completely differently from back home usually. Vaishnavi Sharma’s tight bowling might actually work better there since spinners need control more than turn.
Franchises will definitely look at her differently now after this debut performance here. Her potential WPL price could jump significantly once the next auction rolls around soon. Teams always want young spinners who don’t leak runs during death overs situations.
