Female Cricket Podcast

She made her India debut at the age of 22, however, little did she know that it would be a roller coaster ride ahead. Featuring in the World Cup in her very first year, she was dropped immediately after the mega event, only to make a strong comeback after eight and a half years. With the figures of 6 for 10, she holds the record of being the oldest ever female cricketer to take a maiden five-wicket haul in an ODI (at the age of 33 years and 162 days) which is also the best bowling figure for an India woman in the 50-over format. After calling it quits, this Karnataka player entered into coaching and is known to have trained the national sides of China and Bangladesh.

We are talking about Mamatha Maben, who graced the Female Cricket feature The Pioneers.

Smitha Harikrishna, born and raised in Karnataka and later went on to represent India. She was a right-hand batter and bowled right-arm medium pace. She played 22 ODIs for India and scored 231 runs and took 8 wickets in her career.  

In July 2007, Harikrishna coached the United Arab Emirates women's national team at its debut international tournament, the 2007 ACC Women's Tournament.   In this chat, Smitha takes us back to her initial cricket days and gives us more insight from the 2 Cricket World Cup that she was a part of - 1997 and the 2000 World Cup.

Having played 16 Internationals for India, Devieka couldn't further her playing career owing to a back injury.  2 Years later she came back to contribute to cricket as a Coach. She has coached several teams to success including Assam, Mumbai, and Goa in the domestic circuit. 

Devieka also acted as an Assistant Coach and worked with the Indian National and Bangladesh National team.

In this episode of Female Cricket Podcast,' we have Pramila Bhat who featured in 5 Tests and 22 ODIs for India, revisit memories of her playing days. 

Pramila takes us back to the 90s, in her initial cricket days, and then moving further shares some interesting stories from the iconic 1995 Centenary Cup and 1997 Women's World Cup.  A sports fanatic, Pramila took to spin-bowling and managed to take 37 Wickets in her international career.   

Now a Full-time Corporate Professional based out of Abu Dhabi, UAE - Pramila follows women's cricket closely and is willing to get back and contribute in whichever capacity possible. #PramilaBhat 

On this episode of Female Cricket Podcast, we have former India Cricketer Nooshin Al Khadeer grace the show with her cricket journey which began in the late 90s. 

Nooshin Al Khadeer has been a regular member of the Indian team since her debut in 2002. An economical bowler who bowled a tight line and length, she had consistently performed well for her country and in 2003 she was ranked No. 1 in the world. Her excellent spells in the 2005 World Cup in South Africa helped India race into the final.

She has 100 International Wickets to her name. Having retired in 2012, Nooshin quickly took to coaching. She has been with Hyderabad, Chhattisgarh state teams in the past, and currently enjoys her stint with Railway side. There are incredible lessons to learn from her prodigious career spanning over 20 years now. 

Having played 4 ODIs and 13 T20Is for India, Soniya's International cricket career began in 2010. In her last international match against Pakistan in the T20 World cup 2014, she was awarded 'Player of the Match' trophy.  Soon after her retirement, Soniya took up cricket coaching and is currently nurturing young talents in Pune.  

In this chat, Soniya talks about her early cricket days, leading up to Air India days, gives her opinion on Women's IPL, and stresses the importance of having more matches for the Indian girls.

Today on the Female Cricket Podcast, we have former India cricketer Jaya Sharma share her cricket journey and experiences.  Having spent over 2 decades playing professional sports, Jaya Sharma was also a part of the Indian Women's team which made history in 2005 be being the Runner-Ups at World Cup 2005 in South Africa. 

The southpaw Jaya Sharma is an attacking opening cricketer and reminds one of a young Virender Sehwag.  In this episode, Jaya walks us through her initial days and then emphasises on the importance of mental aspect in any sport. She is currently associated with Sculpting Mentors, an initiative that delivers world-class training in every endeavour of human life through latest tools and techniques.

If you've grown up in this generation watching cricket, chances are that you've at least once stumbled upon the name Jhulan Goswami. Fastest bowler in the women's circuit at the peak of her career, Goswami now sits atop the leading wicket-takers' list in ODI history. From being a ball girl in the '97 World Cup final to traveling 5 hours every day from Chakdaha to Swami Vivekanand Park, its been glorious career spanning over 18 years at the professional level. Those who have seen her from close quarters vouch for the fact that her dedication towards the game, work ethic, and willingness to learn is second to none. Today at the Female Cricket Podcast, we are in conversation with Jhulan Goswami.

She is accurate with her medium pace; She is elegant with her top-order batting, and she is also an excellent fielder. Her match-winning performances at the 2005 World Cup in South Africa propelled India into the final for the very first time. She also holds the record of opening both the batting and bowling in the first-ever T20 match for the Indian women's team. But it's unfortunate that we haven't got the chance to watch her play when she was in her prime days. nevermind, we have the champion talk about her cricket and the journey on the 9th Episode of Female Cricket Podcast. 

She is someone who is a great admirer of Wicket-Keeper Adam Gilchrist. She is someone who believes in perfection. And she is also someone who is a big-time Bollywood fan and calls herself a weird Punjabi. But her story is super fascinating. This is the story about Taniya Bhatia - Wicket Keeper for Indian Women's Cricket Team

Today on the Female Cricket Podcast we have a girl who started her cricket journey from Punjab but soon moved to Himachal in search of better opportunities. But as they say, good things don't come easy, Harleen too had to create a place for herself, had to prove on several occasions, even after injuring her finger twice, she just wasn't ready to give up. 

Her social handles will reveal the super cheerful and funny side of Harleen, but on this podcast, you shall also learn about the struggles she had to go through, the difficult choices she had to make, and the source where she gets all the positivity from. And well, how many of you now about Harleen's singing talent? You don't? Well, you better don't miss this Podcast then. 

The Captain cool of Indian Women's Cricket, the ambassador of women's cricket around the world is here to share her cricket story, her early cricket days, some memorable moments from her journey on the 6th Episode of Female Cricket Podcast. Someone who has been around for over 2 decades now, Mithali Raj is an epitome of success and is an inspiration for thousands of girls who take up cricket today and have a dream in their eyes. 

Having played 50 T20 Internationals for India so far, Kolhapur's Anuja Patil is an inspiration to many. Coming from a small city of Maharashtra, Kolhapur, Anuja hardly got access to better facilities, better cricket grounds, but she never complained. Having a fighter like Yuvraj Singh as her role model, Anuja made her way to the Indian national side in 2012 and has never looked back since then. How did it all start for her? This Podcast has all the answers. 

This Podcast might answer a lot of questions we receive from aspiring Female Cricketers. Listen to Radha Yadav’s journey who started playing season-ball cricket at the age of 12 and within 5 years made it to the national team. Of course, the journey wasn’t easy and she had to sacrifice a lot, including her ice-creams and chocolates. Here's how she went from playing for Mumbai, then Baroda and making her India debut in South Africa. 

This is the story of Agra's leg-spin sensation and the world's number 1 bowler, Poonam Yadav. From playing cricket in the Agra gully to representing India and playing at the Mecca of Cricket, Lords Stadium, Poonam has seen it all. Having faced several societal challenges, Yadav never gave up and continued her hard-work. Her journey is going to leave you inspired. 

This is a story about a young dream from Dehradun, Uttarakhand who grew up playing cricket during summers at her 'Nani's place.' Inspired by Pakistani bowling legend Shoaib Akhtar, Mansi Joshi took up pace bowling and was nicknamed 'Akhtarni' by her colony friends. Struggles started for Mansi at an early age when she had to leave her family and relocate to a new city to pursue her cricket dreams. What happened next? Find out in this episode. 

This is a story about a young girl from Agra whose cricket talent was spotted by a former Indian Cricketer by chance. Well, destiny as they say. The youngest of 7 siblings, Deepti Sharma has struggled a lot to establish her place in the Indian side as an all-rounder. How did it all happen? You got to hear this episode.