This article is all about a girl who earned a black belt in karate at the age of 12, then put this martial art strength to save most of the runs for the Indian women's cricket team while fielding in 30 yards circle. This dedication made her join as the third cricketer from India to play in the Big Bash
Author:- Ashwin Jangam (Cricket Analyst, host, poet, entertainer)
Insta I'd:- cricket_creativity
This is a journey of the youngest daughter of a cable operator started from started Chikkamagaluru to Bengaluru with a dream of playing as a part of women in blue for India, one day.
Be it life, or cricket, a perfect finish is important for a happy ending. Likewise, finishers have a very important role to play in the game, because no matter what the situation is, their job is to take their team to a victory. While we speak of finishers in men's cricket, there are many prominent names. But when it comes to women's cricket, there is only one name that comes to our mind, Veda Krishnamurthy.
Known for her aggressive batting and fearless attitude, the batter has led Women in Blue to a victory on several occasions. Her contribution to the Indian cricket team is immense, yet less spoken about. She was one of the major reasons for India to reach the final match of ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2017. Her innings of 70 off just 45 balls against New Zealand in the final league match of the same world cup is one of the finest innings in the game till now. This inning was applauded by the entire cricketing fraternity.
Courtesy : ESPN CRIC INFO The world-class finisher hails from Chikmanworld-class guru, where she started her cricketing journey. At the mere age of 3, she started playing the game on the streets of Chikmaglur. Apart from cricket, the young girl was enrolled on karate, which she often cites as the reason for her mental and physical toughness. At the age of 12, she got a double black belt in karate.
Her toughness due to karate was one of the reasons for her excellent fielding, which proved to be a major factor in her selection in the Karnataka Senior Team at the age of 13. After she was selected for the senior team, the already talented girl with her family shifted to Bengaluru to hone her skills further on the advice of her first coach Irfan Sait.
She performed exceptionally well in the domestic circuit for Karnataka. Seeing her performance, she made her debut for Women in Blue on 30th June 2011 at the age of 18. She played an exceptional knock of 51 runs scoring her maiden half-century in her debut game. Soon she made her debut in T20. Till June 2012, she remained a constant member of the team, but due to a slump of form, she was dropped from the team.
For the next 3 years, she worked with Railways, stayed in Delhi, away from home town, and came out of her comfort zone improving her game to the maximum possible extent. She now performed exceptionally well for Railways in domestic cricket. And in a tale of resurrection, she made a strong comeback in 2015 in the second match against New Zealand where she played a knock of 63. Since then she has been an integral part of the team, and a strong pillar of Women in Blue for a long time.
In 2015, she was one of the few players included in the contact list, which was the first time any contract list was created for women cricketers by BCCI. In 2017, she was selected for Hobart Hurricanes in 2017-18 Women's Big Bash League. She was the only 3rd Indian till then to be selected in the league. In 2017, she played a major role in India's success in the 2017 women's world cup. She was just the perfect finisher India relied on and was always looking up to.
Since her resurrection and come back, everything was going on fine for her till the covid outbreak. But a tragedy struck her in May 2021, when she lost her mother and elder sister in two weeks due to Covid. She was left distraught, with a void that could never be filled by anyone in this world. It was difficult also for her fans to see the ever-smiling, bubbly and charming Veda so quiet and in so much pain. But even being in the trauma, she continued to help other people find beds and ensured they get treated well to fight the disease.
This not just showed her mental toughness, but also showed her kindness and a gem of a person she is.
After a long break, when the Indian squad was announced for the first time after the covid outbreak, Veda was not a part of the squad. But looking at her past experiences, it is evident that the batswoman will make a strong comeback in the team soon.
She is practising hard and is raring to go and finish the matches for Women in Blue yet again. The best finisher, best fielder and one of the senior-most members in the squad will make a strong comeback once more for sure. If I had one wish to be fulfilled by God, it would be to see Veda play forever for India, making her Amma and Akka smile from heaven filled with pride, and bringing joy to the faces of all the Indians.
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